Syrian Free Army: flag, photo, strength. The free Syrian army is ...

The largest insurgent armed group, fighting with the Syrian government against President Bashar Assad is the Syrian Free Army. Its creation is dated in July 2011, when Colonel Riyad Al-Asaad with several officers deserted from the present Syrian army, he urged the soldiers to follow their example in the video message.

Structure

There is no real centralized command in this army, everything is decided by field commanders, depending on the situation. Since the Syrian Free Army consists of small local units, Commander-in-Chief Salim Idris is more representative for the press and negotiations. He does not plan specific military plans, he does not plan the operation and actually does not decide anything. Also, no one can say with accuracy what the strength of the Free Syrian army. Apparently, local militants are able to quickly disperse to their homes, and when the operation matures, they are mobilized to the position.

The umbrella structure preferred by the Syrian Free Army operates throughout Syria. Although it really exists as an army, this issue remains open even for military experts. The term "Syrian Free Army" is most often used as a generalization, suitable for any armed opposition to the president and the government. There are many such groups, and they are few in number. In 2013, their power was estimated at about thirty to fifty thousand people in total. There is evidence that the Syrian free army has up to eighty thousand militants, but this figure is very controversial.

Composition

Most of the militants are Sunni Arabs, but there are units that are completely composed of Kurds, as well as Palestinians, Syrian Turkmens, and Libyans. In addition to the above, the Lebanese, Tunisian and some other Muslim countries are fighting there. Despite the confident Muslim domination, the Syrian Free Army positions itself as a "secular", "moderate" opposition, which should distinguish it from radical armed gangs of Muslims such as Front-Al-Nusra.

They write that even clashes occurred on the basis of contradictions, but open and constant war. The Free Syrian Army against terrorists IGIL (banned in many countries, including Great Britain and Russia) does not. Nevertheless, it receives all sorts of support - both financial and political - from the United States, Germany, France, Turkey and many countries of the West and the Persian Gulf. If we carefully consider the activities conducted by the Free Syrian Army and IGIL, the extraordinary similarity of methods of warfare will be on the surface. This is not a war, it's armed raids and terrorist attacks.

Activities

After the video message in July 2011, with an appeal to the Syrian military to desert to the side of the opposition, some activity was noticed near Homs. In parallel to the Colonel group of deserters was another gang - "Movement of Free Officers", whose leader was neutralized by the Syrian intelligence services, after which the "decapitated" officers joined the Colonel group. Until November, the opposition lurked, then fired mortars from the building of the Syrian Air Force and again crumbled until February - most often they are hiding in the territories of neighboring states.

All this time, the spetsnaz little by little these oppositionists caught: when the border crossed from Turkey, the leader was arrested - Colonel of the Free Syrian Army, then another colonel-defector was shot. In retaliation on February 10, a terrorist act was carried out in Aleppo, where nearly thirty people were killed, who had nothing to do with this "war". After the arrest of the leader, another colonel, Aref Hamoud, who had never arrived from Turkey on the "battlefields", appeared at the head. No one Turkey provides protection to terrorists: in April 2012, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, soldiers and officers of the Free Syrian Army began to pay very decent salaries.

Declaration of war

In July 2012, the so-called Free Syrian Army declared a massive offensive against Syrian regular troops. This operation was, apparently, even planned, because the name was in the east lush: "Damascus volcano and Syrian earthquake." The result of the military actions was again a terrorist act in which prominent Syrian military regulars were killed and the capture of the town of Azzaz near the Turkish border (it is convenient to escape, and supply of military and grocery supplies is established across the Turkish border).

At the same time, under Homs in the Christian village, five people were shown indicative, and seventeen were taken hostage. Many times there have been high-profile abductions of people: a Ukrainian journalist, two Russians, an Italian ... And each time for the release of the abductees demanded a ransom. All these actions are very unlike the military. And the Free Syrian Army is, most likely, not the army at all. The rebels avoid direct clashes with the National Guard divisions , and with the special forces regiments, acting guerrilla, blasting everything and shooting defenseless in the back. This is the Syrian Free Army, a photo of her exploits is attached.

Decomposition

In May 2013, US Senator John McCain met with the leadership of the SSA, more like a network of bandit formations. That is, it turns out that the US openly supports terrorism? In October 2013, three SSA brigades were forced to surrender to the Kurds who caught them near the Turkish border. And already in 2015, most Arab media constantly report on the complete demoralization of this army.

Moreover, voices are heard that such an army does not exist at all. Militant deserters either surrender or go under the banner of IGIL. In the past, there have been many Jihadists in the SSA, both local and from neighboring countries, that these countries have officially recognized: Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon, for example.

Supplies

The supply of weapons and ammunition to the SSA is largely provided by the army of Saudi Arabia, transporting cargo through the Turkish airport of Adana. Communication and all the equipment that is associated with it, France supplies. Distributes supplies to the CIA. Turkey in the summer of 2015 issued SSA twenty sets of MANPADS (immediately after the Syrian regular army lost six aircraft and four helicopters).

The US is helping a lot of its pets, loudly noting that the Free Syrian Army is fighting against the IGIL. Here is just one of the published requests to the United States from the Syrian opposition: five hundred MANPADS "Strela", one thousand RPG-29, seven hundred and fifty large-caliber machine guns, communications and bulletproof vests. And they really want missile anti-tank systems, very much! The US usually always went to the opposition in such matters.

Crimes

After the last Syrian events, the attitude towards the insurgents began to change little by little. The CCA is charged with a lot: the shooting of civilians who left the mosque after Friday prayers, for example, and the UN begins to say that in the SSA minors are recruited for terrorist attacks and armed attacks. The adult population for this is not enough. Syrian and Russian political scientists are sure that the emergence of IGIL is due to the activities of SSA, moreover, IGIL is the brainchild of SSA, and these two organizations are not so much at war with each other as they are constantly cooperating. Black-white-green with three stars, the flag of the Syrian free army does not look like the black and white flag of IGIL, but their goals are the same.

Kurds, although with considerable losses, but drove out bandits from Kobani, closing a convenient passage across the border to Turkey for Syrian bandit formations. In addition, the Kurdish militia concluded a mutual assistance agreement with the regular army of Bashar Assad. Then Endogran said very discontentedly that he would not allow the creation of a Kurdish state near the Turkish borders. And, given that the flag of the Syrian Free Army has been raised in Turkey, where all of its Colonel's top brass is living, it becomes clear that the crimes of gangs must also affect the reputation of the state of Turkey. Capturing Koban, albeit briefly, the free army fiercely outraged there, doing mass executions and killing the local population. When the city was liberated, the Kurdish inhabitants were not left alive ...

Russia and the Syrian opposition

President of Russia V.V. Putin noted that the purpose of the operation in Syria from the Russian Air Force is not the support of Bashar Assad, but the destruction of international terrorism. Moreover, they try to communicate with the opposition, although it's not entirely clear what kind of organization it is. In any case, there is no unity in it and unified coordination. Nevertheless, Russia struck several missile strikes at the indicated coordinates, and these coordinates were given by people who identify themselves with the Syrian opposition, but who are not forming the SSA.

The Syrian Free Army says it does not share the views of radical Islamists. Nevertheless, they do one thing: they are fighting against the legitimate government of the official Damascus. Russia is trying to mediate in resolving this political crisis between the acting authorities and the so-called moderate opposition. A number of opposition forces are already ready to stop the fire and begin negotiations. Moreover, efforts are being coordinated to jointly combat IGIL. However, both sides understand that the "Islamic state" is flesh from the flesh of the Syrian free army, and the policy of Western Europe and the USA aimed at destabilizing the entire Middle East region has generated it.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Search of PAS

By October 2015 it became known that: support for the Free Syrian Army is carried out by foreign special services; France and Germany are training militants to overthrow Bashar Assad; In September, six hundred volunteers arrived from Libya to receive salaries from the Saudis. Russia considered it its duty to find Syrian groups that oppose gangs of IGIL. And that's what they did.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced to the whole world that he was ready to contact the so-called Free Syrian Army, but he doubted that such an organization existed at all. He called her a phantom education, of which nothing is known to anyone exactly. And for the question of where this army is, there are all grounds, despite the indignant exclamations of Russian liberals and foreign investors of the bandit formations of Syria.

The role of SSA from the point of view of investors

From the very beginning, since the declaration and declaration of the war, Bashar Assad, the Syrian Free Army had all the signs of a propaganda project. That is, there was never a real, worthwhile attention to the physical content of this army. The colonels performed well some kind of representative functions, loudly declared on behalf of the entire Syrian people. Why is this all the countries of Western Europe and the United States? The answer is simple. Cheap oil. Still, to mention the "Syrian Free Army" as a partner is much more innocent than, for example, the "Islamic Front", the man in the street at the TV will not lose confidence in the leaders of the country and will support the policy of such a plan.

Although anyone buying Turkey oil products is unknown, and what kind of armed groups accompany the cargo to Turkey? Experts in the field of politics of many countries for some reason do not see practically any difference between the armed men of the Syrian Free Army and the Islamic Movement, banned in the Russian Federation and other countries. But the armed groups in Syria - more than a thousand just large. All robbery. How can they be distinguished from each other?

Directory

The reference book on the Syrian rebels, which was released by BBC in 2013, describes that the SSA consists of thirty people who represent the five unknown fronts of Syria, is based SSA in Turkey, does not plan and does not conduct military operations, since it has only a network Brigades acting independently. That is, the single military centralized force of the SSA does not represent itself. Hence, and the force that would have the right to make statements on behalf of the whole people.

The number of SSA in the directory is also not specifically given, but the number of IGIL militants is indicated - they are forty-five thousand, including the forces of the no less radical group. They are characterized by Ahrar ash Sham al-Islami (the Islamic Movement of Free People of Levant), which also can not be counted as SSA, Since they were identified with al-Qaeda since the 1990s, and there has long been an alliance of these two groups. Even as such, the "Syrian opposition" as a whole should not be confused with the forces of the SSA, which nobody saw with their own eyes. But the sum of injections is precisely known - up to one hundred and fifty million dollars are given for the maintenance of the SSA, what the reports are about. And how many of them have not been submitted yet ...

"Colonels"

There were several hypothetical commanders in the SSA, from Riyad al-Assaad, who announced the existence of an army of deserters, after which he played only a symbolic role, as resources, even those loyal to the SSA, recognize. And in parallel another Colonel - Qasim Saaduddin - announced that there can not be any al-Asaad, but he personally commands Kasim Saaduddin, the commander of the SSA. Then came the time of Brig. General Salim Idris, who "merged" quickly and incomprehensibly, and now another brigadier took over the leadership of the SSA - Abdul-Illyah al-Bashir.

Who are all these people

The information is very stingy, mostly from Western readers trying to squeeze a tear with stories about what Bashar Assad is bad - these people seem to have lost all the relatives executed and tortured by the executioners of Bashar Assad, and they themselves are sensitive, kind and extremely intelligent. Al-Assad barely managed to joyfully announce the love of his homeland and the willingness to die for her, as it turned out - in various media - killed, wounded and fleeing to Turkey. No one else has heard about him and knows nothing about him - neither the past, nor the future, only that he is a deserter and a man of duty. Simultaneously, yes.

Salim Idris turned to the US and Qatar for help, got it and left "in English." They wrote about him that he is an electronics professor and a prominent scientist of one of the universities in West Germany. Did not find any of his works on physics, not even the university. And the last of the "commanders" is a frank Islamist, who is in contact with the Iranian opposition in exile and plans to equip the Caliphate with the strictest Sharia in Iran. All of the above for the quality of information is worthy of just a page in "Classmates" or "fake" account in "Facebook". But there is no other information. Nowhere. Perhaps Sergei Lavrov quite reasonably asks: "Where is this army ?!" And what does the Free Syrian Army do now in the light of recent developments in the Middle East? Surrender, die or go - that's all the options for her choice.