FSA fears al-Assad may use WMDs
06/06/2012
By Caroline Akoum

http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=29895

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – Three days following the end of the deadline
granted by the Free Syrian Army's [FSA] to the al-Assad regime to put an end
to the violence, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that
Syrian gunmen had killed at least 80 al-Assad regime soldiers. The FSA had
granted the al-Assad regime a deadline to implement all points of the Annan
initiative and cease all military operations, threatening that otherwise it
would not be bound by any “obligations” towards UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace
plan. Following the end of this deadline, FSA forces have escalated their
operations against al-Assad regime forces, reportedly killing 80 government
troops since the beginning of the week.

A source within the FSA informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the FSA has killed
more than 300 members of al-Assad regime forces and pro-regime Shabiha
militia over the past week. FSA fighters also informed the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights that they had killed more than 100 al-Assad
regime soldiers, in addition to destroying a number of tanks, in clashes
throughout Syria, including Damascus and Idlib. Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights Chairman Rami Abdulrahman also informed Reuters News Agency that
Syrian rebel forces had over-run and destroyed a number of army checkpoints
in Idlib Governorate.

As for the FSA’s resumption of operations on the ground, chairman of the FSA
Military Council, Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh, informed Asharq
Al-Awsat that that Annan’s initiative was dead on arrival and that killing
in Syria is on-going. He stressed that “the regime’s failure to comply with
this initiative has forced us to respond. After warning that we would return
to defensive operations if the regime did not stop the violence, it is
obvious today that the situation is moving towards further escalation.” He
also laid the blame on “the international community’s delay in taking a
decisive resolution” adding “this is something that will lead to civil war.”
The FSA commander asserted that “the region is on the edge of the volcano;
this is something that began in Syria and we have seen it move across
Lebanon to affect the region as a whole.”

Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh also stressed that the FSA’s military
plans and operations have not changed since the start of the revolution,
namely focusing on defensive operations, particularly as the FSA does not
possess strong offensive capabilities. He pointed to the FSA’s success in
manufacturing short-range “Nimr-4” rockets, adding “today, after the regime
has widened the circle of its operations to include villages and cities, in
addition to targeting demonstrators, it has incited a number of battles,
contrary to Bashar al-Assad’s recent speech in which he claimed he was no
responsible for this, despite the escalation in military operations by the
al-Assad regime forces.” He stressed this military escalation in Syria
represented the “beginning of the state of lawlessness.”

Brigadier General Mustafa al-Sheikh also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army
is carrying out suspicious operations across the country, including Aleppo
in northern Syria and Deraa in southern Syria. As for the nature of this
“suspicious” activity, the FSA commander claimed that the al-Assad regime
will resort to utilizing weapons of mass destructed manufactured by Syria’s
Scientific Research Center in the forthcoming period.

Al-Sheikh also claimed that the 38th Mechanized Brigade has disarmed the
Syrian air defence system to utilize these mortars in operations against
Syrian civilians, particularly in shelling al-Lajat in Deraa, one of the FSA’s
strongholds. He added that the al-Assad regime has accused the Syrian rebels
of being responsible for disarming and commandeering rockets – claiming that
the 38th Mechanized Brigade has defected to join the FSA – as a pretext to
continue shelling FSA strongholds.

For his part, Bashar al-Haraki of the Syrian National Council [SNC] stressed
the SNC’s continued commitment to the Annan initiative, viewing this as the
only way out of the Syrian crisis, on the condition that its points are
implemented on the ground. Al-Haraki told Asharq Al-Awsat “we do not believe
that Annan’s initiative has collapsed or ended, but it could be said that it
is in a stage of ‘non-implementation’ due to the regime’s failure to comply
with it. However we are calling for international pressure to force the
regime to implement it, and in this case the FSA will have no reason to
undertake any military operations to defend the Syrian people and protect
civilians."

Regarding the FSA’s call for a return to military operations and targeting
al-Assad regime security centers, Al-Haraki said "these centers are the
launch pad from which the army are carrying out its operations against Syria’s
civilians, and attacking them are the only means for the FSA to defend the
Syrian people.”

However FSA Colonel Arafat Rashid al-Hammoud informed Asharq Al-Awsat that
it was not in the FSA's interest to abandon the ceasefire stipulated in the
Annan initiative. He stressed “we continue to assert that we are only
carrying out defensive operations…what we are doing is in retaliation for
the regime's barbaric operations and the best evidence of this is what
President Bashar al-Assad said in his recent speech in which he confirmed he
would continue to crush what he described as ‘terrorism’, and this means
that he will continue to crush the revolution, and therefore escalate
military operation in the forthcoming stage."

He added "Annan's initiative has failed to stop the violence but we cannot
say that we will be moving to offensive operations because we do not have
the means to carry out such operations, and it is in our interest to win
international trust and legitimacy, not incite the international community
against us.”