Image Source: Al Arabya  BY MADISON MACK ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY Syrian General Abdul Aziz Assem al-Shallal, the man charged with preventing defections within the Syrian military has himself jumped ship, joining the Free Syrian Army. He listed his reasons for defecting in a video posted to YouTube. “The deviation of the military from it’s primary duty, which is to protect the country, and it’s transformation into gangs of killing and destruction. The army has destroyed towns and cities. It has committed massacres against defenceless people, who took to the streets calling for their freedom."  The New York Times reports General Shallal bolted to Turkey in a daring back-roads motorcycle escape with the help of the Free Syrian Army. Per CNN... “They’ve also said they’re willing to help other military officials in Syria defect but they wouldn’t be willing to help for much longer... They’re saying there’s only a small window of time they’re giving other officials to defect and join their side, otherwise they’re not going to look kindly on their actions.”  Shallal’s defection makes him one of the highest ranking military officers to abandon Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the nearly two-year old uprising, which a commentator on MSNBC’s Morning Joe says is a sign of the beginning of the end. “Just keep watching Moscow as the Russians pull away from Assad. This will be an interesting indicator of how long these guys have to last. 2013 will be the end game. We just don’t know when or what comes afterwards, but it will happen.”  But Shallal was not a member of Assad’s inner circle and rebel leaders are giving differing accounts of how much power he held over different news outlets.  The New York Times notes defections of other officials with impressive titles...  “...including the prime minister, a brigadier general and a well-known government spokesman — had done little to shake Mr. Assad’s basic hold on power. More critically, the opposition has failed to attract either officers or rank-and-file soldiers belonging to Syria’s Alawite minority, the sect that Mr. Assad belongs to.” And Thursday, the Associated Press report s U.N. Syrian envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will be meeting with officials in Damascus and Moscow in an attempt to revive a Syrian peace plan, which was shelved this summer, calling for a transitional government to run the country until elections can be held. ( via euronews ) The civil war which began in March of 2011 has killed more than 40,000 Syrians and displaced more than half a million.