A Republican Guard General close to Syrian President Bashar al Assad has fled to Turkey, a senior rebel source said on Friday, in the first defection from the regime's inner circle in Syria's 16-month uprising. Laurent Fabius, French foreign minister, confirmed on Friday that a Syrian general who was close to President Assad had defected and was bound for Paris. Sources close to General Tlas said that he had been uncomfortable with Mr Assad's brutal crackdown on dissent from the start, in spite of being a personal friend of the president. News of the reported defection came as the "Friends of Syria" group of countries opposed to Mr Assad prepared to meet in Paris, where they are expected to discuss further ways of putting pressure on Mr Assad. The Paris meeting comes after all five members of the Security Council, plus other powers, met in Geneva last Saturday to address the rising violence in Syria, and signed an agreement calling for executive power to be transferred to a transitional government. The US says the wording in the agreement effectively precludes Mr Assad from joining the transitional government, but Russia, an ally of Damascus, denies this.