Honourable Defection

by Husam Wafaei

A glimpse into an unfinished chapter of the Arab Spring, and Syria has captured the world's attention with a violent, ruthless, unrelenting internal battle that has no end in sight. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed, almost a quarter of a million are displaced, and an unknown number remain missing or incarcerated inside the Assad regime's horrendous prisons. The creation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) resulted inevitably from a self-defence mechanism. Inspired by fellow Arab freedom-fighters, the FSA represents hope for all Syrians who aspire to democracy, freedom and humane treatment after four decades of oppression by dictatorship and tyranny The story focuses on two soldiers with very different paths, who defected from the regular Syrian Army, for the simple reason that they refused to kill unarmed civilian demonstrators. Although the two men had dissimilar backgrounds and personalities, their destinies merged under the FSA's flag and they joined forces in a common objective. Fate led them to the stricken city of Homs and into the district of Baba Amer. In this place, their lives changed forever.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2012