Free Republic

The US Central Intelligence Agency is collecting information on Islamic radicals in Syria for possible lethal drone strikes against them at a later stage, The Los Angeles Times reported. Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said President Barack Obama had not authorized any drone missile strikes in Syria yet, and none were under consideration. However CIA's Counterterrorism Center, which runs drone programs targeting militants in Pakistan and Yemen, had recently shifted several targeting officers to improve intelligence gathering on militants in Syria. The targeting officers have formed a unit with colleagues who were tracking Al-Qaeda operatives in...

(CNN) -- The first Syrian rebels trained by U.S. military and intelligence officers in Jordan returned to Syria on Thursday, a senior rebel spokesman told CNN. About 300 rebel fighters received specialized training in Jordan in the use of various weapons, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft and other types of advanced systems, the spokesman said. More rebel fighters are currently undergoing training.

As Islamists gain ground in the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad, the radical Nusra Front has emerged at the forefront, yet little is known about the group aside from its power and its affiliation with Al-Qaeda. Despite the mystery – leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani is never seen in public – those acquainted with the Nusra Front paint a picture of a highly organized group known for the discipline of its fighters and well-liked by the people in the territory it controls. The military leader of the Salafist Al-Islam Brigade, a sharp-witted man in his 40s who goes by the...

Nearly two years after the start of Syria's popular uprising, the conflict has evolved into a slow-moving, brutal civil war with many players and no clear end in sight. Multiple rebel groups across the country continue to fight President Bashar al-Assad's forces, using any weapons they can get their hands on. While the rebels are using many modern weapons, they've also come up with their own makeshift solutions. In these weapons workshops, anti-aircraft guns are welded to pickup trucks and armor shields are attached to machine guns and cars. Mortar shell nose cones are turned on lathes and explosives are...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rebels fighting to depose Syrian president Bashar al Assad have for the first time acquired a small supply of surface-to-air missiles, according to a news report that a Western official did not dispute. NBC News reported Tuesday night that the rebel Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen of the weapons, which were delivered to them via neighboring Turkey, whose moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with increasing vehemence. Indications are that the U.S. government, which has said it opposes arming the rebels, is not responsible for the delivery of the missiles. But some...

Syrian rebels have acquired shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, NBC News reported late Tuesday night. According to the report, Free Syrian Army rebels claim they now have nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles smuggled from Turkey. The exact type of missile was not mentioned in the report. Such a weapon, however, would offer a significant defense against helicopter gunships that Syrian government forces have deployed against rebel strongholds such as Aleppo, where intense fighting has raged for nearly two weeks.

Anti-regime activists say jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda fought with rebels to capture a Syrian military air defense base near Aleppo. Videos posted online Friday apparently shot inside the base say Jabhat al-Nusra participated in the overnight battle for the base. The videos show fighters inspecting lines of large missiles.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has seized control of an airbase near Aleppo in a joint operation with the supposedly secular Free Syrian Army. Video of the fighters at the airbase has appeared on the Internet. The Al Nusrah Front and Free Syrian Army captured the airbase in al Ta'aneh near Aleppo yesterday after heavy fighting with the Syrian military. Scud tactical ballistic missiles as well as anti-aircraft missiles were housed at the airbase. "A few hundred fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra,...

CIA spies have smuggled up to 14 Stinger missiles into Syria so rebels can defend themselves from air strikes. The ground-to-air weapons have been delivered across the Turkish border to the Free Syrian Army and were partly paid for by Saudi Arabia, a security source claimed. President Bashar al-Assad’s MIG-23 warplanes and helicopter gunships have killed more than 1,000 people.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE urged their citizens Wednesday to leave Lebanon immediately amid threats by members of a Lebanese clan who kidnapped earlier in the day over 30 Syrians, as well as one Saudi and one Turkish national. Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad al-Asiri, who is in Mecca, told the National News Agency he requested all Saudi nationals in Lebanon to leave the country after “the threats have become open.” … The Meqdad clan said Wednesday it abducted over 30 individuals it described as belonging to the Free Syrian Army, which it claims was behind the kidnapping Monday...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops are currently pounding Aleppo after Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces launched an offensive attack. Days earlier, regime forces were cracking down on a FSA guerilla attack in the heart of the capital, Damascus. In Homs, clashes between both forces are ongoing. Yet there is still no sign that Assad is even considering stepping down. It has become clear that there's no going back for the Syrian people, as they are now convinced that Assad had no intention of reform. Consequently, the rebellion is spreading, defections within the regime's army are increasing and opposition forces have...

These are not average members of the Free Syrian Army. Abu Khuder and his men fight for al-Qaida. They are one of a number of jihadi organisations establishing a foothold in the east of the country. They hide their presence. "Some people are worried about carrying the [black] flags," said Abu Khuder. "They fear America will come and fight us. So we fight in secret. Why give Bashar and the west a pretext?" But their existence is common knowledge in Mohassen. According to Abu Khuder, his men are working closely with the military council that commands the Free Syrian Army...

"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...

In the 1980s, it was Afghanistan to which international Islamic fighters came, helping the mujahedeen successfully take on the Soviet army and its puppet regime in Kabul. Then came Bosnia in the 1990s and Iraq in the 2000s, in both of which veteran jihadists fought a sectarian war on behalf of outgunned Sunni minorities.In 2012, they’re flocking to Syria With funding from private organizations in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, they are making their way across the frontiers from Iraq and Jordan, hooking up with opposition elements in Syria and taking the battle to Damascus and the heart of the...

Yet another alleged "massacre" of "civilians" by the Syrian regime was in the establishment-press headlines this week, supposedly a brutal killing spree by dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the village of Tremseh that left up to 250 people dead. As has become typical, Western governments and mainstream media outlets — the New York Times, the BBC, and others included — parroted anonymous “opposition activists” for the claims. But within days, after foreign powers seeking regime change had their chance to beat the war drums even louder, the carefully constructed tale was already falling apart. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,...

Syrian rebels took control of all border crossings between Iraq and Syria on Thursday, Baghdad's deputy interior minister told AFP. "All the border points between Iraq and Syria are under the control of the Free Syrian Army," Adnan al-Assadi told AFP by telephone. "The border points and all the outposts are under the control of the Free Syrian Army. "The Syrian army are focusing on Damascus." Assadi also said there was fighting under way between the Syrian army and rebels across the border from the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar. The top official said Iraqi border guards had witnessed the...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Street battles raged on the doorstep of the Syrian capital on Monday, as President Bashar al-Assad's troops sought to consolidate their grip on suburbs rebel fighters had taken only a few miles from the centre of Assad's power. Activists and residents said Syrian troops now had control of Hamouriyeh, one of a cluster of districts where they have used armored vehicles and artillery to beat back rebels who came as close as eight km (five miles) to Damascus. An activist said the Free Syrian Army - a force of military defectors with links to Syria's divided political...

According to the Spanish daily ABC, a Libyan rebel commander who played a key role in overthrowing the rule of Muammar Qaddafi previously participated in the May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza aboard the Turkish-owned vessel the Mavi Marmara. The operation famously culminated in a deadly clash between Israel Defense Force commandos and “activists” armed with iron rods and knives aboard the ship. The paper’s source for the story is the rebel leader himself: Mahdi al-Harati, the commander of the so-called Tripoli Brigades, which are widely credited with having played a decisive role in the rebel...