A Syrian pilot was granted political asylum after landing his MiG fighter jet in neighbouring Jordan yesterday, in the first such defection of a revolt a watch-dog says has killed more than 15,000 people.

“The council of ministers has decided to grant the pilot, Colonel Hassan Merei al-Hamade, political asylum,” Jordanian Information Minister Samih Maaytah said after a government official said the Russian MiG-21 had made an emergency landing at a base in Mafraq near the border.

Syria’s state TV said the warplane was flying near the border when contact was lost at 0734 GMT, and Jordan said it crossed the frontier minutes later.

The opposition Syrian National Council said: “The plane took off at high speed and flew at low altitude from a military base between Daraa and Sweida in the south of the country... to avoid detection by radar”.

“The pilot is from Deir Ezzor (in eastern Syria) and his family is known for its opposition” to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, spokesman George Sabra added.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have defected from Syria’s armed forces since the revolt against Mr Assad’s rule erupted in March last year, thousands of them joining the rebel Free Syrian Army, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.