The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is the “moderate” pro-US rebel fighting force that Western nations have been crowing about for years as the best chance to take over the country from the Assad government. The Daily Telegraph provides a different look at the group.
What started as a collection of rebels, many of them military defectors, aiming to take over the country has changed, with the stark realization among the commanders that rebellion doesn’t pay that well.
Still, that’s no reason to let a perfectly good rebel army go to waste, and the FSA commanders in Syria’s north have transitioned seamlessly from fighting a civil war to organized crime.
Kidnapping and extortion are the big money makers, but FSA commanders are dipping their toes into everything from smuggling to armed robbery at “military checkpoints,” anything to make a buck.
While this has left the FSA commanders quite a bit richer than they were, it’s also cost them a lot of credibility among their civilian victims, who no longer see them as a viable alternative to the Assad government, but rather a criminal syndicate that’s likely to be a problem long after the war is over.
Reprising the history of the Colombian FARC. From legitimate, popularly-supported rebels to criminal gang. Just at an accelerated pace this time.
This article must be written with the approval of Tyrant Assad system. The brave Free Syrian Army are protecting civilians and fighting and getting killed so Syrians have freedom. The article has not word of truth.
I read the daily telegraph article. Is this all of the FSA, no. Its one piece of the puzzle. I am old enough to have known about the Lebanese civil war. It had periods like this. Wars have ebbs and flows. I am glad the US is not involved deeply in it. The tube videos are a mix. All the extremes from propaganda to believable unedited video. Once again, its has elements of truth but this own article admits its only part of the picture.