“Opponent forces in Syria should get united and close ranks until the regime collapses,” Col. Riad Al-Asaad , who is currently taking refuge in Turkey, told the news agency.

The colonel defected after the Damascus regime’s opponents established an opposition armed force called the “Syrian Free Army,” Anatolia reported.

Approximately 7,500 Syrians have fled a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters and are staying in camps in southern Turkey.

“In Turkey, we have no problem. We are living here comfortably, we are happy,” the colonel said.

He accused the Syrian regime of murdering innocent civilians and disseminating false news.

“The regime has said they launched an operation to capture me in Rastan (a restive Syrian town between Homs and Hama) and said they captured me,” the dissident said, adding that the Syrian army was disseminating such “false” news to pit Syrians against one another.

“I deny and condemn all the lies disseminated by the regime,” he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has predicted the Syrian people will “sooner or later” overthrow Assad, his former friend, said he would unveil plans for sanctions against Syria after he visits Syrian refugees in Hatay in the next few days.

Syrian opposition groups meeting in Istanbul on Sunday appealed for international action to stop what they called indiscriminate killings of civilians by the Syrian authorities, but rejected any Libya-style military intervention.

After months of peaceful protests, some army deserters and dissidents have taken up arms, prompting military operations against them, especially in areas bordering Turkey and Jordan.

“These are rugged or agricultural regions. The regime cannot control them unless it commits more troops, and then it risks more defections,” said one activist in the northwestern province of Idlib near Turkey.

Riad said last week that 10,000 troops had deserted.