All the King's horses and all the King's men: they couldn't put Syria back together again
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Play Image 1 of 9: The first in a long line: almost a month ago the first regime pilot flew his plane into Jordan and asked for asylum. The Syrian government said it was an accident but Jordanian intelligence didn't agree. Syria-watchers began to wonder - was this the beginning of the end?
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: What followed was a stream of pilots and low level military personnel headed to either Turkey or Jordan. What started as a trickle began to speed up alongside the thousands of refugees smuggled over the borders. They brought with stories of atrocities in Deraa and Homs.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: And it wasn't just government officials: two weeks ago TV personality, Ghatan Sleiba, fled to Turkey and revealed to the Guardian that he had been working as a double agent for the FSA for months, using his position on Dunya TV to aid the rebels.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: The first big name to go: Manaf Tiass was a childhood friend of the president and senior member of the Syrian army but in early July he decided enough was enough and took his family to Paris. A serious blow for the Assad regime.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Five days ago we had the first senior diplomat defect: Nawaf Fares was Assad's envoy to Iraq and a ex-loyalist but in his YouTube video he called on Syrian soldiers to follow his lead and turn their guns on the Damascus regime.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: The biggest loss so far: The Damascus bomb yesterday hit defense minister and ex-chief of staff, Gen. Daoud Rajiha and his deputy, Assef Shawkat, Assad's brother in law. Although Assad quickly announced their official replacements it might be harder to find a replacement husband for his sister.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Oh the irony: Yesterday's bombing also hit Gen Hassan Turkomani, assistant to the vice president and head of the Crisis Management Group. Clearly he had not been managing the crisis in Damascus as effectively as he'd hoped.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Overnight another two Syrian generals fled, bringing the total number of generals sheltering in Turkey to 20. What began as just a few isolated defections, looks like a spectacular coup d'etat.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Will he? Won't he? Rustom Ghazaleh is rumored to be on the verge of defecting after several of his family members did. The ex-head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon is as close to Assad as it gets - will he decide the president's fate?
