Jordan Grants Asylum to Defecting Syrian Pilot

Jordan granted political asylum to a Syrian pilot on Thursday hours after he landed his jet at a military air base in the kingdom, in the first such air force defection in the 15-month revolt.

"The council of ministers has decided to grant the pilot, Colonel Hassan Merei al-Hamade, political asylum, on his request," Information Minister Samih Maaytah told Agence France Presse.

A Jordan Armed Forces statement said the Syrian air force Russian-made MiG-21 landed at 0745 GMT.

"The jet landed safely at a Jordanian military air base, and the pilot has asked for political asylum," it added.

A government official told AFP that the pilot "made an emergency landing at the King Hussein air base in Mafraq," in northern Jordan near the border with Syria.

According to Syrian state television, authorities had "lost contact with a MiG-21 while it was on a training mission."

"The plane, flown by Colonel Hassan Merei al-Hamade, was near the southern border of Syria when contact was lost at around 10:34 am (0734 GMT)," the report said.

Later on Thursday, Damascus denounced the pilot as a "traitor" and said it wanted to recover the warplane.

"The pilot is considered a deserter and a traitor to his country, and to his military honor, and he will be sanctioned under military rules," state television quoted the defense ministry as saying.

"Relevant contacts have been made with the authorities in Jordan in order to recover the jet on which the traitor pilot made his getaway," the ministry added.

Georges Sabra, spokesman for the Syrian National Council, the main exiled opposition group, said the pilot had "defected."

"The plane took off at high speed and flew at low altitude from a military base situated between Daraa and Sweida in the south of the country," Sabra told AFP. "These planes usually fly in twos or threes, not alone.

"It is certain that the pilot has defected," he added. "It is not normal that a jet should take off at such speed. It is to avoid detection by radar," said Sabra.

"The pilot is from Deir Ezzor (in eastern Syria) and his family is known for its opposition" to President Bashar Assad's regime, he added.

More than 120,000 Syrians fleeing the violence in their homeland have taken refuge in Jordan, according to the Amman government. The United Nations has registered 20,000 of them.

More than 15,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Assad's rule erupted in March last year, according to a human rights watchdog.