These guys with me are from the Free Syrian Army. They are defected soldiers from the army
of the Syrian regime.We're on a surveillance mission. It's an army base and there's security
forces and shabiha.Our mission is to survey the base: The number of men, their equipment
and combat capability.
After we finish our surveillance we will inform the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in north Syria, in Jisr Shughour.
I feel proud that we the Free Syrian Army can say that we are here, that we are here on the ground. And hopefully soon
we will conduct large operations. Operations to topple the regime.
Eight months into a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
is now facing the reality of a threat which for so long was only a fiction: An armed rebellion
seeking to topple him by force.But the men now turning their guns on the Assad family's
41-year dictatorship are not the criminal gangs or terrorists the regime claims, but
members of Syria's own security forces, defected after refusing to open fire on unarmed protesters.
I was an officer in the regime's army Actually I wasn't an officer in the army, I was a member
of Military Intelligence. I defected from the regime because I used to see a lot of the
things the regime did. How they oppress the people, their iron grip on the people, how they
assault people. How the regime is like a criminal gang.
An unlikely freedom fighter, Abu Ali spent his early career as an enforcer of the police state, a member of Syria's feared Military Intelligence.
We were authorised to do whatever we wanted.
Who gave the orders? The general leader, President Bashar. So it was like a genocide against the
people. And I was part of it.The army went to the streets and shelled houses with tanks.We
shelled the civilians and the demonstrations.
Having defected and fled across the border from Syria into Lebanon, Abu Ali prays with other Syrian refugees in a local mosque for
the downfall of the Assad regime.
Oh God bring to Bashar and his soldiers an earthquake May God bring to Bashar and his soldiers an earthquake And let what happens
to them be an example And let what happens to them be an example And let the aim of destroying
them be the goal, oh God And let the aim of destroying them be the goal, oh God
They don't have religion or morals
Here we are on the border. We are in this area.They planted the mines in this area here.
After I joined the Free Syrian Army a group of deserted soldiers joined me. I am a commander now. A field commander. We carry out operations.
We will enter from this position. We can cross from here. We've demined the area secretly.It's
a very narrow crossing. We will pass from this point.
Depending on our orders we either help the peaceful protesters. If there's injured protesters
or martyrs we transfer them and protect them. We may shoot at security forces or shabiha if
they open fire on demonstrations. We protect them. That's our job.
A short distance across the remote valleys that form the border between north Lebanon
and Syria, a second commander of the Free Syrian Army, also a defected soldier, explains
why he believes only force can end the violence in Syria.
Why are we necessary? I will ask you this question: If you saw two people fighting and
one defeated the other and one of them was shooting and one was unarmed, wouldn't you defend the weak?
As a military we don't have enough ammunition. We have only light arms.
And we also lack equipment. For Syria we said if we had external support from the EU or
Turkey or the US or UK or France, it should be for an independent military area for our
army to gather, a no-fly zone and military support with weapons,
So we are strengthened for our next step against the regime. Until it becomes just the same as Gaddafi's regime, defeated and behind bars.
In an interview for this film the leader of
the Free Syrian Army, Riad Asaad -- who is no relation to the ruling family - said his
rebel army had grown fast. -The Free Syrian Army is the army of the people,
the army of the nation. It grew out of the Syrian army of the tyrant who is killing people in Syria.
The Free Syrian Army got organized three months ago due to more defections
from soldiers and officers and it now has divisions all over Syria.
Asaad, who is based in Turkey, insisted the move towards an armed rebellion did not spell
a descent into civil war in Syria. -We respect all sects in Syria. They have what
we have and we do not favour one person over the other We call for a true democratic country,
to be a civil state with all that means. All people are represented on the street so elections
should be held for all people
But before elections can happen in Syria, the Free Syrian Army say attacks against Assad's security forces must be stepped up.
There was a tank around it there were soldiers I stood here away from it.
What was the distance between you and them when we gave your orders to shoot? It was around 150 or 200 meters.
I stood here the first. Of course, the first rocket didn't work.
I took it out and changed it. Then I launched the second one. That's when they were firing me.
That's you? Yes this is me.
I was holding the RPG. I launched it here. Did you hit your target? Of course.
When we joined the army we swore to defend the country from the enemy. It was not to fight
our people if they demanded freedom. Now we're supporting the people to liberate them from injustice.
They deceived us. We took our oath to defend the country, not the ruling family
God make us victorious against the tyrant of Syria. God make us victorious against Bashar
and his collaborators. God please destroy his power and position. God give us the means to defeat him.
Prayers done and dinner eaten, Abu Ali and
his men set off on a mission under cover of darkness crossing the border from Lebanon
back into Syria to survey a Syrian military base.
The ultimate goal of the Free Syrian Army is topple the regime
Seven! Two! Four! You, move over there! How far are we from the Syrian border?We are
inside the Syrian border. What are you surveying? The base. We're observing the army in the base.
Are you ready to fight with shabiha and Assad's troops? Yes, for sure. We can easily clash
with them despite our lack of ammunition.
We ask the international community to put pressure on the Syrian regime. And pressure President Bashar to step down. We ask the
international community to arm the Free Syrian Army because we have only a few arms and even less ammunition