Syrian Free Army rebels choose outlaw life
A fighter who calls himself Mohammed holds his rifle in his right hand and uses a kerchief as a sling for his left arm, coated in fresh pink scars. He defected from the army four months ago and has come to fight near his family and his fiancée, who are still in his village just on the other side of the mountain. Like most rebels, he is afraid of contacting them, fearing they could be arrested or killed. [...] Inside the camp, young boys wage their own daily battle with Turkish security to pry openings in the fences around the camp for smuggling the rebels and their supplies in and out. At his border post just miles away, the rebel Mohammed says he is not frustrated yet. He only hopes his fiancée, close yet far away, will wait for him. "I hope she isn't mad, I think she understands," he laughs, rolling the silver engagement ring on his finger. "By God's will, we'll marry as soon as the regime falls."
These rebels are the locals' open secret. Turkish border patrols on the hilltops and farmers ploughing nearby fields somehow just seem to miss seeing scrawny, bedraggled young men like Said sneaking along mountain passes with large packs. Rebels asked that the location of their base not be disclosed, for their safety and that of the locals who help them. Nearby Syrian villagers play ignorant when their sons disappear. Some fighters, like Ayman, an army defector, have faked their deaths and are now hiding just a few kilometres away, carving out rebel posts all along the border. He secretly joined a group of rebels on the border several months ago. Their sagging tents of blue plastic tarp are stuffed with tattered mattresses and dirty pots and pans. Buckets are scattered to collect rainwater to drink. "My parents know I'm alive, that's it. Our neighbours think the rebels killed me," says Ayman, a brawny 28-year old with a short trimmed beard. The border is an ever-shifting belt of rebel control, says one of their commanders, Khaled Hammoud, a defected lieutenant-colonel.
PressTV: Terrorist groups kill six Syrian policemen despite ceasefire