Leading deserters from the Syrian army are to create a supreme military council to plan operations against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the broadcaster Al-Arabiya reported on Sunday.
The council will be announced soon in Turkey and will be led by Brigadier Mustafa al-Sheikh, who has recently defected from the Syrian army, dpa quoted the report as saying.
Al-Sheikh, staying now in Turkey, served as head of an army corps in Syria's northern area, according to opposition.
The council will coordinate with the rebel Syrian Free Army, said the broadcaster, quoting Syrian opposition politician Fahd al-Masri
The opposition says about 40,000 Sunni Muslim soldiers have defected from the army, which is run by officers from al-Assad's minority Alawite sect.
"Defections from the army have been a daily occurrence in the past two weeks," al-Masri said in remarks published Sunday.
"We expect in the coming period defections to happen at the level of Syrian military battalions and brigades," he told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
Meanwhile, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported that al-Assad had ordered a general amnesty for "criminal offences" committed since pro-democracy protests started in March. SANA gave no further details.
Under an Arab League peace plan endorsed by Damascus, the Syrian government is committed, among other things, to releasing all political prisoners held in connection with the anti-regime uprising.