Asharq Al-Awsat, Beirut, 4 Jan 2012 – The unilaterally declared truce between the Free Syrian Army [FSA] and the Syrian regular army collapsed after the defectors attacked the regular army’s units in various parts of Syria the day before yesterday after accusing the regime “of not stopping the killings” which forced them to back down on “their conditional promise” to stop the attacks during the presence of the Arab observers.
Paratrooper Captain Ammar al-Wawi, secretary of the FSA’s Military Council, asserted that the FSA “released 30 soldiers and four officers from the regular army who had surrendered to its elements in Jabal al-Zawiyah area the day before yesterday.” He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Al-Zawiyah martyrs’ regiment” carried out an operation at 0500 hours the day before yesterday against a regular army unit which resulted in the surrender of 30 soldiers and four officers. He pointed out that they surrendered without any fight and handed over their weapons and that the investigations with them indicated there were instructions to kill the demonstrators and oppositionists in addition to targeting the Arab observers on their arrival in the area and to accuse “terrorist elements.” He pointed out that simultaneous attacks were carried out in the areas of Daraa, Damascus countryside, Jabal al-Zawiyah, and Dayr al-Zur which resulted in targeting and killing more than 40 soldiers and officers.
Al-Wawi announced that the “FSA” has addressed an ultimatum to all the army officers and soldiers, the security forces, and the shabbihah to stop targeting the civilians within four days or else they would be targeted. He said: “We have information about all the officers ordering the shooting of demonstrators. We warn all the killers that we will deal with anyone who hands over his weapon and surrenders on the basis of let bygones be bygones but they would be targeted one by one if they continued with what they are doing.” [Passage omitted on FSA commander Al-As’ad’s statements to Reuters]
On his part, Al-Wawi strongly criticized Arab League [AL] Secretary General Nabil El-Araby and expressed surprised at his description of the Arab observers as the “UNIFIL” forces deployed on the borders between Lebanon and Israel. He said: “If El-Araby believes that the observers are UNIFIL, then let him refer the issue to the Security Council to be the arbiter between the people and government.” After praising Ali al-Diqbasi, the Arab parliament speaker, who demanded the immediate withdrawal of the observers from Syria, he called on El-Araby “to resign immediately because he has harmed the Syrian revolution, the AL, and the Arab peoples demanding freedom, justice, and democracy.”