Post by pieter on Nov 18, 2011 18:09:07 GMT -7
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (Arabic: الجيش السوري الحر, al-jayš as-suri al-ħurr) is the main opposition army group in Syria. It is composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, who have been active during the 2011 Syrian uprising. The formation of the opposition army group was announced on 29 July 2011 in a web video released by a group of uniformed defectors from the Syrian military, who called upon members of the army to defect and join them. The leader of the men, who identified himself as Colonel Riyad al-Asad, announced that the FSA would work with demonstrators to bring down the system and declared that all security forces attacking civilians are justified targets. Riyad al-Asad emphasised that the Free Syrian Army has no political goals except the liberation of Syria from Bashar Assad's regime.
The Free Syrian Army has also stated that the conflict is not sectarian, and that they have in their ranks Alawis who oppose the regime, and that there will be no reprisals when the regime falls. On 23 September 2011, the Free Syrian Army merged with the Free Officers Movement (Arabic: حركة الضباط الأحرار, ħarakat al-ḍubbaṭ al-aħrar) and became the main opposition army group. As of October there were estimates of 15,000 - 20,000 defectors from the armed forces, although not all defectors chose to actively participate with the Free Syrian Army.
According to their leader Colonel al-Asad, as of November 2011, the FSA gained 100 to 300 members every time it mounted an attack. The group’s fighters had seen combat in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, the port city of Latakia, the northern province of Idlib, the southern area of Daraa, where the uprising began, in suburbs of the capital Damascus, the city of Aleppo and the central towns of Homs and Hama.
History
Declaration of formation
In the Free Syrian Army’s first statement, Riyad al-Asad explained that the opposition army’s formation proceeded “from our nationalistic duty, our loyalty to the people, our sense of the current need for conclusive decisions to stop the regime’s massacres that cannot be tolerated any longer, and proceeding from the army’s responsibility to protect the unarmed free people.” And he proceeded to “announce the formation of the free Syrian army to work hand in hand with the people to achieve freedom and dignity to bring the regime down, protect the revolution and the country’s resources, and stand in the face of the irresponsible military machine that protects the regime.”
Asad continued by calling on the officers and men of the Syrian army to "defect from the army, stop pointing their rifles at their people's chests, join the free army, and form a national army that can protect the revolution and all sections of the Syrian people with all their sects." He continued that the Syrian army "[represents] gangs that protect the regime" and declared, "as of now, the security forces that kill civilians and besiege cities will be treated as legitimate targets. We will target them in all parts of the Syrian territories without exception."
As no confirmed evidence of an organized Free Syrian Army beyond video statements was produced in the beginning, its existence was questioned by some sources. However in late August, a top member of the organization, colonel Hussein Harmoush, was detained during a special operation by Syrian forces in Idlib and confessed on state television that he was a member of the opposition army and that while in the Syrian army he was not forced to shoot on protesters. Since August, the Free Syrian Army has also made a number of interviews with the international media from both locations on the Syrian-Turkish border and inside Syria.
According to its leader, the Free Syrian Army "aims to be the military wing of the Syrian peoples opposition to the regime". He also asked that the international community help arm the opposition army and impose a no fly zone and a naval blockade of Syria
On 16 November, the FSA released a statement which announced that a temporary military council had been formed, in an effort to weaken the Pro Assad forces.
Military tactics
The soldiers on desertion have to abandon their armoured vehicles and, carrying only light weapons, hide in cities and suburbs. As the Syrian army is highly organised and well-armed, the Free Syrian Army has adopted guerrilla-style tactics in the countryside and cities, similar to those described in Guevara’s book Guerrilla Warfare. The FSA claims it actively engages and ambushes security forces and the state’s shabiha militia, but seldom confronts other regular army soldiers for fear of alienating them. Most of their attacks have been on buses bringing in security reinforcements, often by planting bombs or carrying out hit-and-run attacks.
In order to encourage defections, the Free Syrian Army has been ambushing patrols and shooting their commanders and then convincing the rank and file to switch sides. Ninety percent of the Syrian Army soldiers are Sunni, while the commanders are mostly from Bashar Assad’s Alawi sect. The FSA battalions have also acted as defense forces in neighborhoods opposed to the government, guarding streets while protests take place and attacking the militias, known as shabiha, which are an integral part of the government's efforts to suppress dissent.
In Deir ez-Zor, Al-Rastan and Abu Kamal the Free Syrian Army, however, engaged in street battles that raged for days with no particular side gaining the advantage. Recently, air support was used against them in Hama, Homs, Al-Rastan, Deir ez-Zor and Deraa.
Armed actions
September
In late September, Syrian government forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, led a major offensive on the city of Al-Rastan, which had been under opposition control for the past couple weeks. There were reports of large numbers of defections in the city, and the Free Syrian Army claimed it had destroyed 17 pro-Assad armoured vehicles during clashes in Rastan, using RPGs and booby traps. The Al-Harmoush battalion also claimed to have killed 80 loyalist soldiers in fighting. A defected officer in the Syrian opposition claimed that over a hundred officers had defected as well as thousands of conscripts, although many had gone into hiding or home to their families, rather than fighting the loyalist forces. The fighting between the government forces and the Free Syrian Army was the longest and most intense action so far. After a week of fighting, the FSA was forced to retreat from Rastan. To avoid government forces, the leader of the FSA, Col. Riyad Asad, retreated to the Turkish side of Syrian-Turkish border.
October
By mid October, clashes between loyalist and defected army units were being reported fairly regularly. On 13 October, clashes were reported in the town of Harra in the south of Syria that resulted in the death of two rebel and six loyalist soldiers, according to the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Clashes were also reported in Banish with a total of 14 fatalities for both affected towns, including rebels, loyalists and civilians. A few days later on 17 October, five government troops were killed in the town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon, and 17 people were reported wounded in battles with defectors in the town of Hass, although it was unclear if the wounded included civilians. According to the London based organization, an estimated 11 government soldiers were killed that day, four of which were killed in a bombing. It was not clear if the defectors linked to these incidents were connected to the Free Syrian Army.
On 20 October, the opposition claimed that clashes occurred between loyalists and defectors in Burhaniya near Homs, leading to the death of several soldiers and the destruction of two military vehicles.
Clashes occurred in the north western town Maarat al-Numaan on 25 October between loyalists and defected soldiers at a roadblock on the edge of the town. The defectors launched an assault on the government held roadblock in retaliation against a raid on their positions the previous night.
On 26 October, the opposition claimed that nine soldiers were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade when it hit their bus in the village of Hamrat, near Hama. The gunmen who attacked the bus are believed to be defected soldiers.
Oppositions claimed that 17 pro Assad soldiers were killed in Homs on 29 October during fighting with suspected army deserters, including a defected senior official who was aiding the rebel soldiers. Two armoured personnel carriers were disabled in the fighting. Later that number would say to be 20 Syrian soldiers were killed and 53 wounded in clashes with presumed army deserters, according to Agence France Presse. In a separate incident, 10 security agents and a deserter were killed in a bus ambush near the Turkish border, activists said, AFP reports. The Observatory said the bus was transporting security agents between the villages of Al-Habit and Kafrnabuda in Idlib province when it was ambushed "by armed men, probably deserters".
November
On the 1 November, "dozens" of armoured vehicles allegedly converged on a village in the Kafroma in Idlib, as defected soldiers (it is unknown if they are associated with the Free Syrian Army) apparently killed an unknown number of Syrian soldiers.
On the 5 November at least nine people died in clashes between soldiers, protesters and defectors and four Shabeeha were killed in Idlib, reportedly by army deserters. On the same day, the state-news agency SANA reported the deaths of 13 soldiers and policemen as a result of clashes with armed groups. According to SANA, four policemen were also wounded in clashes with an armed group in Kanaker in the Damascus countryside, while one of the armed individuals died. Additionally two explosive devices were also allegedly dismantled.
More army defections were reported in Damascus on 10 November, three out of at least nine defectors were shot dead by loyalist gunmen after abandoning their posts. The same day, clashes reportedly resulted in the death of a fifteen year old boy in Khan Sheikhoun, when he was caught in crossfire between Assad loyalists and the free army. Also on the 10 November "at least four soldiers in the regular army were killed at dawn in an attack, headed by armed men - probably deserters - on a military checkpoint in Has region, near Maaret al-Numan town" according to the Syrian Observatory for Human rights. However, the number has also been put at five soldiers. A checkpoint in Maarat al-Numaan three kilometers south of Homs also came under attack by defectors, resulting in an increase in tank deployment by Syrian security forces in the city.
On 11 November, Reuters reported that 26 soldiers were killed, while Syrian state media reported the lower figure of 20 soldiers killed at this time. For November, there have been conflicting reports of the number of Syrian soldiers injured and killed. For the month up until 13 November, the Local Coordination Committees have reported about 20 deaths, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights has reported more than 100 deaths, and the Syrian state media SANA has reported 71 deaths.
On the 14 November, 34 soldiers and 12 defectors were killed in clashes in an ambush by the Free Syrian Army in Deraa. The death toll as a result of the fighting also included 23 civilians.
On the 15 November, eight soldiers and security forces troops were killed by an assault on a checkpoint in Hama province, according to activists.
On the 16 November, an air force intelligence complex on the edges of Damascus was attacked. According to the Free Syrian Army, they did so with machine guns and rockets, leading to the death of at least six soldiers with twenty others wounded. A western diplomat said the assault was "hugely symbolic and tactically new".
The Free Syrian Army launched an assault against the Baath party youth headquarters in Idlib the next day with RPG's and small arms.
Command structure
Leadership
The Free Syrian Army operates its central command from a camp in Turkey's southern Hatay province, close to the Syrian border, and its field command from inside Syria. The FSA has declared the following command structure. Colonel Riyad al-Asad is the Commander-in-Chief, Colonel Malik Kurdi is his deputy, and Colonel Ahmed Hijazi is the Chief of Staff of the Free Syrian Army.