Free Syrian Army rebel leaders face internal challenges

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Free Syrian Army commanders hope that transferring their leadership to Syrian territory from exile in Turkey will make the rebel force more effective, but the challenge of unifying the disparate fighters is as great as ever.

Rebel commander Riad al-Asaad said on Saturday the Free Syrian Army (FSA), an umbrella body which nominally groups together many of President Bashar al-Assad’s armed foes, was moving its command into rebel-controlled areas in north Syria for the first time.

The move is symbolically important, reflecting the greater confidence of the FSA leadership and highlighting Assad’s loss of control over large areas of Aleppo and Idlib province.

“Having the leadership inside will give a closer link to the brigades on the ground and help Asaad’s decision-making,” said one rebel source close to the army colonel who defected from Assad’s military early in the 18-month-old Syrian uprising.

Asaad has been based in Turkey for more than a year and has been portrayed as the leader of thousands of rebel fighters.

But his absence from the battlefield and the geographically fragmented nature of the uprising has limited his authority. Many fighters, even among those who adopted the FSA label, said they would not answer to an officer in exile.

“One of the reasons for moving back into Syria is that whenever he speaks, you hear voices saying: ‘You stay in your tent in Turkey – we are the ones doing the fighting’,” the rebel source said. “This move will silence those voices.”

STRUGGLE FOR UNITY

The video of Asaad’s announcement was distributed by the rebel Umma Brigade, which says it has 6,000 fighters and is primarily active in Idlib province, where the FSA leadership would be based.

The source said the move into Syria would also allow the FSA to restructure its leadership, though he gave no details.

While Asaad was in Turkey, the FSA established a leadership structure inside Syria based around local “military councils”. Some of those councils formed a joint internal command, but still appear to operate separately along local lines.

Many other rebels fight completely outside the FSA umbrella, prompting other attempts to bring the fighters together – including the announcement of a “National Army” headed by General Mohammad Haj Ali who defected to neighbouring Jordan.

“All those people outside, they don’t represent us,” said one Islamist commander who has been fighting in Idlib.

Another rebel involved in a rival effort to rally the fighters under one unit said the FSA move would not be taken seriously.

“It’s a media show. Asaad will only stay in Idlib for a few days – he is going to go back to his tent after that,” he said.

“But we are happy to work with him if he comes back for good. It will be a morale boost and might be a helping factor in uniting them.”

Reuters

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9 responses to “Free Syrian Army rebel leaders face internal challenges”

  1. Aerial bombing will not let Bashar secure even an inch of Land. You got to come down to gain Land and when you come down to get some Land the Mujaheddin will burn your alawite butt with IED. So far we have seen the Mujaheddin are fighting better than the Alawite rats in the ground war. This psycho serial killer will kill some more children woman and elderly as long as it has those flying bird. Some more military airport destruction will push him in to selected airport and bit by bit the Mujaheddin will gain more and more land under control while this fool is flying around. 
    No war can be own with air assault.

    Day before yesterday the third Turkish border went under mujaheddin control.Iraqi border is also under control from the Syrian side and the American puppet Nuri sealed the border with wall from Iraqi side. Few powerful IED will do the job when the time is ripe. Well if the Mujaheddin would have a lot of heavy military installation then it would be meaningful to do the aerial bombing.Most of the FSA fighters are with light cavalry and they move fast just like the latest Taliban attack on the biggest American base where about 15 Taliban went inside and destroy/Damage 8 fighter jets plus helicopter and other installations worth over 200 million dollar with the expense worth a price of a pizza. So Aerial bombing will achieve nothing but huge collateral damage and civilian death. The bomb itself are very expensive and dropping a bomb with a precision aim may kill one or two Mujaheddin with their AK47 ! Russians and Iranians have some gain by selling weapons to Assad.  

    The guerrilla war cant be own by modern day war strategy and all the future war against the Muslims will be this type of war where the opponent with all kind of modern weapon attack a group of fighter with small arms without even a single aircraft! 

  2. Aerial bombing will not let Bashar secure even an inch of Land. You got to come down to gain Land and when you come down to get some Land the Mujaheddin will burn your alawite butt with IED. So far we have seen the Mujaheddin are fighting better than the Alawite rats in the ground war. This psycho serial killer will kill some more children woman and elderly as long as it has those flying bird. Some more military airport destruction will push him in to selected airport and bit by bit the Mujaheddin will gain more and more land under control while this fool is flying around. 
    No war can be own with air assault.

    Day before yesterday the third Turkish border went under mujaheddin control.Iraqi border is also under control from the Syrian side and the American puppet Nuri sealed the border with wall from Iraqi side. Few powerful IED will do the job when the time is ripe. Well if the Mujaheddin would have a lot of heavy military installation then it would be meaningful to do the aerial bombing.Most of the FSA fighters are with light cavalry and they move fast just like the latest Taliban attack on the biggest American base where about 15 Taliban went inside and destroy/Damage 8 fighter jets plus helicopter and other installations worth over 200 million dollar with the expense worth a price of a pizza. So Aerial bombing will achieve nothing but huge collateral damage and civilian death. The bomb itself are very expensive and dropping a bomb with a precision aim may kill one or two Mujaheddin with their AK47 ! Russians and Iranians have some gain by selling weapons to Assad.  

    The guerrilla war cant be own by modern day war strategy and all the future war against the Muslims will be this type of war where the opponent with all kind of modern weapon attack a group of fighter with small arms without even a single aircraft! 

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar

    ‘You stay in your tent in Turkey – we are the ones doing the fighting’
    Hmmm … great battlefield strategy only listening to the guy firing next to you. And how many ‘commanders’ have you lost?
    But then, the line of reasoning is as flawed as anything else that’s gone on in Syria …

  4. 5thDrawer Avatar

    ‘You stay in your tent in Turkey – we are the ones doing the fighting’
    Hmmm … great battlefield strategy only listening to the guy firing next to you. And how many ‘commanders’ have you lost?
    But then, the line of reasoning is as flawed as anything else that’s gone on in Syria …

  5. 5thDrawer Avatar

    ‘You stay in your tent in Turkey – we are the ones doing the fighting’
    Hmmm … great battlefield strategy only listening to the guy firing next to you. And how many ‘commanders’ have you lost?

  6. nayyashAl3arab Avatar
    nayyashAl3arab

    they should face the international court tribunal from crimes again st humanity

  7. nayyashAl3arab Avatar
    nayyashAl3arab

    they should face the international court tribunal from crimes again st humanity

  8. nayyashAl3arab Avatar
    nayyashAl3arab

    they should face the international court tribunal from crimes again st humanity

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