Loss of Military Support led to the collapse of the Tunisian Presidency and his fleeing abroad

Video of police firing on protesters in Tunis a few days ago, followed by army personnel refusing to side with police and siding with the people instead.

Philip Brennan | PhilipBrennan.net | 14 January 2011:

This is footage taken from a Tunisian source and verified for me by a trusted source who gave me background information to this event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZEDYtq2sL0

My source says that when the military refused to fire on the protesters, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fired his head of the Military. Once the President had lost the support of the Military, his position became untenable. To directly quote my source:

“…Bin Ali’s plane is still in air waiting to be received by an Arabian Gulf country after France refused to receive him.

Notice that he was a trusted ally to the French, but it seems that they don’t want to cause any confusion there having a big Maghrebi (Algeria-Tunisia-Morroco) community….”

I will keep you posted as I hear more.

UPDATE 23:17: My source has just informed me that his destination in the Arabic Gulf is, in fact, Iran. Let’s see if they let him in or tell him to get lost…

UPDATE 15 January 2011 – 15:13: BBC News have reported that his plane has, in fact, landed in Saudi Arabia. We should have guessed, with him being a friend of the French Establishment…

Hat Tip: Elbadeil for the video footage.

Footnote: Maghrebi – peoples of the Maghreb. The Maghreb is an old collective name for the Arabic African nations, circa early twentieth century, but is still in common usage within the Maghreb even if it is not often referred to in Western Media.

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