There are indications that Tlass fell from grace with the al Assad regime as far back as December 2011, when he voiced his opposition to the regime's crackdown to Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who was once his close friend and confidant. Tlass reportedly will be joining his wife, Tala, and his sister, Nahid Aija (who is reportedly the widow of a billionaire Saudi arms dealer), in Paris. Manaf is not the only significant member of the Tlass family who has defected. One of his cousins, Abdul Razzaq Tlass, has reportedly been leading the Farouq Battalion of the rebel Free Syrian Army. He was wounded when the Syrian army shelled Homs in February (which may explain why Manaf at that time refused to carry out orders when his unit was deployed to pacify Homs).