(21 photos)
Exclusive account of Sham Falcons, a rebel group waging war against the Assad government from their mountain hideouts.
Tracey Shelton
Al-Jazeera
"Idlib Province, Syria - Dawn broke over the northern mountains of Jabal al-Zawia late last month to find a group of anti-government fighters hiding along a ridge line, waiting for their remote-controlled bomb to destroy an army convoy on the road below.
The roughly 100 guerrillas were members of a larger group known as the Sham Falcons. Like many of the hundreds of ad hoc rebel groups that have sprung up across Syria, they are loosely trained but closely knit, and armed only with Kalashnikov rifles, PKT machine guns and a few rocket-propelled grenades.
Like other armed fighting groups, they were drawn from local towns and villages that carried fierce resistance to the Damascus government of President Bashar al-Assad and claimed to have suffered from its brutality. Like so many Syrians, they decided to fight back......
"We are using very simple weapons against the highly sophisticated weapons of the regime," said Fatalah, a former Syrian army lieutenant who defected at the beginning of the uprising.
Before the revolution many, like Fatalah, worked as police officers or soldiers for the government. Others were students, farmers or taxi drivers. United by the government's alleged atrocities, Fatalah said they now fight like brothers.
In pockets of resistance across Syria, groups such as these carry out missions against an army equipped with tanks and helicopters. They fight back with homemade bombs, limited weapons and meagre medical supplies. Many of these operations are carried out on foot or on motorbikes, with the occasional pick-up truck concealed beneath trees a safe distance away......."
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