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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Front line Syria rebels hostile to command move |
| 2012-09-24 |
| Rebels in the war-ravaged northern city of Aleppo greeted the announcement that their central command has moved from Turkey to inside Syria with indifference bordering on hostility. "The arrival of one single new fighter would be more useful than the Free Syrian Army chiefs," said Abdullah, spokesman for the Al-Tawhid Brigade, the most important rebel unit in Aleppo, of Saturday's announcement. "Combatants on the ground are worth more than While the FSA leadership has presented its transfer to inside Syria as "good news," it barely registered with front line fighters in Aleppo who have developed their own tactics. Abu Somer, head of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade (Grandchildren of the Prophet) had learned three days previously that the FSA's command, holed up thus far in neighboring Turkey, was moving across the border. But he and his men, positioned on three fronts in the Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawla districts of the city, continued operations as if nothing had changed. "At this very moment I have men on the front," he told AFP, stressing that "strategy is decided by those on the ground." The rebels in the city, beset by violent clashes and bombardments since July 20, already have their own local command center and meet up regularly. "We don't follow any religious or political ideology. Not the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, or any other foreign movement. We are the FSA on the ground," he said. Abu Somer takes his orders at meetings with other brigades in the city, in consultation with the recently set up Aleppo military revolutionary council. The commanders on the ground share one goal: "That (President) Bashar Assad falls as soon as possible." |
| Posted by:tipper |