Al Sharq Awsat, the Saudi-based newspaper, has confirmed that Syria's former chemical weapons head, Adnan Silu, has defected to the opposition. 

Silu said that the rebels controlled 60 per cent of the country and that all they needed was limited military intervention from NATO to help them topple President Bashar al-Assad, the newspaper reported on Monday.

"All we need from NATO are two air attacks on the presidential palace to topple the regime and we will be able to control all the Syrian cities," Silu told Asharq al-Awsat.

The newspaper published a statement of Silu's defection in Arabic.