Syrian soldiers 'fled like rats': rebels

Yahoo ^ | 7/30/12 | Iskandar Kat | AFP

[NormsRevenge]

"The soldiers fled like rats," says a grinning rebel after he and his fellow fighters captured Anadan checkpoint from the Syrian army, giving them strategic access to Aleppo where they are battling a fierce loyalist offensive.

"Bashar don't go, we will catch you," jokes another rebel, sitting on crates of ammunition in the back of a truck where the Islamist flag -- black with white lettering -- flutters.

The jubilant rebels celebrate their victory with gunfire, while some retrieve weapons and ammunition left behind by the retreating Syrian troops after 10 hours of fierce fighting during the night.

The ground near the military post is littered with bullets of all calibre, as well as heavy machineguns and Kalashnikovs, after the rebels captured it just before dawn on Monday.

The Anadan checkpoint, about five kilometres (3.8 miles) northwest of Aleppo, gives the rebels free movement between Turkey and the northern city, Syria's commercial capital.

The overrunning of the checkpoint comes just days after Syrian troops on Saturday launched an offensive to dislodge the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), composed of deserters and armed civilians, from Aleppo.

At Anadan, a rebel could be seen taking shells from an army tank and handing them over to a colleague to be loaded into a pick-up truck. Nearby lies a still-smouldering truck that had been used to ferry soldiers, its tyres melted.

More trucks are parked under a large tent, where the rebels empty dozens of boxes of ammunition and search through whatever has been left behind by the Syrian soldiers.

[Eleutheria5]

I wish they would fight better. The more damage they do to each other, the less the winner will be able to do to us.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NormsRevenge.

...says a grinning rebel after he and his fellow fighters captured Anadan checkpoint from the Syrian army, giving them strategic access to Aleppo where they are battling a fierce loyalist offensive.

See! Gun control works! ;')

In 1973, despite the advantages of surprise, massive armor superiority, and SAM batteries to negate the Israeli air-to-ground anti-tank tactics, the entire Syrian army (that didn't get blown to bits inside nearly 1000 tanks the Israelis destroyed) ran for their lives.

[DAC21]

Man o’ man what paper tigers the Middle East has for Military forces, and Rebels for that matter.

[Shadow44]

Are you kidding? The Arab Armies are great at smashing unarmed civilians! /sarc

[Chode]

i'm rooting for both sides on this one...

[JimSEA]

Exactly.

[freedommom]

hello

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/30/al-qaida-rebels-battle-syria

[wordsofearnest]

The world may yet find out what happened to Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.

[fabian]

I think that is a shame..however, it does not make all of the free Syrians wrong. They will have to fight Al queada once freedom is won..to some degree. I still respect the heck out of the free Syrian army!