Skip to main content

What I felt I needed to know about the Free Syrian Army

So everyone speaking about the Syrian conflict knows the country is heading towards a full blown-out civil war (some consider it is already the case) waged by the Syrian regular Army (mainly controlled by Assad's Alawites closest allies) and its thuggish militia, the shabiba, against the rebels, most of them organized under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

According to our beloved Wikipedia, "the Free Syrian Army is the main armed opposition group operating in Syria" [...] "composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel and volunteers" [...] "its formation was announced on 29 July 2011 in a video released on the Internet by a uniformed group of deserters from the Syrian military who called upon members of the Syrian army to defect and join them".

First of all, the FSA is composed of civilians who took up arms. The peaceful demonstrations, following the example of their Arab brothers in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, started early in 2011. The uprising was quickly quelled by the regime, which most of the times resorted to violent means. That sparked a counter-reaction from part of the people itself, and scores of Syrians commenced attacking the policemen and soldiers. They were initially called the rebels, and made use of guerrilla tactics, some of them learned in the Internet. The civilians started with stones and firearms bought for hunting, but soon moved to Molotov cocktails and small homemade bombs.

On the other hand, Army defectors. It was not until mid-Spring/Summer 2011 that the FSA started accepting defectors. As professional soldiers joined them, the rebels gradually acquired assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled and hand grenades, and even armored vehicle and tanks, although in very little numbers. Those defectors have been accused by the regime of merely being ""drop-outs, soldiers who had failed their basic tests who were motivated only by money" (Robert Fisk: 'They snipe at us then run and hide in sewers'').

The Independent's Robert Fisk interviewed Syrian soldiers, who accused the rebels of being "Foreigners, Turks, Chechens, Afghans, Libyans, Sudanese". "Syrians too, but smugglers and criminals". As El Pais' Mayte Carrasco (El Ejercito Libre Sirio cambía de rostro) points out, the FSA is currently not only composed of Sunni Syrians, but also of foreign (Canadians, Australians, Emiratis...) Muslim volunteers ready to fight for the same ideal.

Their weapons come from various sources: they have been taken from dead Syrian troops or soldiers who had been captured, Army defectors joined with some, others have been stolen, and some of them have been smuggled through neighboring countries and allegedly provided by countries like Qatar.

What bonds this heterogeneous group? Their dissatisfaction, their hatred, their yearn to regain their lost dignity by any means, and that nowadays means by fighting and overthrowing the Regime that has repressed, tortured and killed their children, family members, friends, neighbors and even their enemies, who nevertheless deserved to live.

What about Al Qaeda's role? The Syrian regime's main accusation (and justification) points to the terrorist nature of the regime. The leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has repeatedly voiced his support for the Syrian rebels and called upon Syrians to retaliate against the government, and has also called on militants in neighboring countries to help those in Syria. There are of course (self-confessed or hiding) Salafists and Jihadists inside the FSA, but, as The Arabist perfectly explains in his article On Jihadists and Syria not all of them are, and we should not believe that.



  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

12 things you wanted to know about IS/ISIS

Tracking the events in Iraq - in the whole region, actually - might be a colossal task. Particularly so during the Summer, when it is sometimes even difficult to grasp a single headline. We all are aware about something called ISIS - or IS, as of lately - that seems to be messing around from Lebanon to Iran. A group of bearded man that scares everybody, the only ones able to force Obama to reconsider his mantra of non-intervention and to make Assad look like a harmless puppy. We've read about them, we've seen tons of maps showing their advance, we've heard rumours and conjectures. In case you've missed half of it, there go a few basic things you need to know about them. And yes, they are creepy!

Migrating

Aunque el título pueda referirse a uns de las varias mudanzas a los que me conocéis personalmente estáis acostumbrados, se refiere simplemente a este humilde blog, que tantas alegrias me ha dado. A partir de ahora podréis encontrar todos mis artículos en la página https://discoveringmena.blog Although the title could well refer to one of the rushed and unpredictable decisions those amongst you who know me are by now you used to, 'migrating' refers here to the new site this humble blog - which has given me so much joy - is moving to. From now on you can find all of my articles on the page https://discoveringmena.blog

Libros, películas, series y una canción para entender Israel

From Beirut to Jerusalem , Thomas Friedman (2002) Este es un libro de referencia a la hora de conocer Israel para muchas de las personas que he conocido cuando he estado en y/o hablado de Oriente Medio. Aunque teniendo en cuenta  en lo que Thomas Friedman se ha convertido , quizás recomendar uno de sus obras no parezca una introducción prometedora. En él, el periodista/comentarista cuenta en primera persona su paso como corresponsal por dos de las ciudades más simbólicas de la región en una época turbulenta como fueron los 80, desgranando en el caso del Líbano las aristas del conflicto que asolaba por aquel entonces el país, y en el caso de Israel las características y divisiones de la sociedad israelí, no únicamente desde el punto de vista ideológico en relación con el conflicto con Palestina, sino teniendo también en cuenta otros condicionantes clave, como puede ser el origen, la práctica religiosa, o las condiciones socioeconómicas.   Un grupo de israelíes celebran con band