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| The al-Qaeda-linked "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" |
Free Syrian Army (FSA) Lt.-Col. Abu Ahmad was by the
side of Kamal Hamami -- aka Abu Baseer al-Ladkani -- when the FSA Supreme
Military Council member was gunned down by militants linked to al-Qaeda in
Latakia’s rural area Thursday dusk time.
Speaking live last night from an FSA outpost near the
Turkey-Syria border, Abu Ahmad gave this witness account of the killing in a long-distance
interview with Aljazeera TV news
channel:
Q. Lt.-Col. Abu Ahmad, since you were accompanying
Kamal Hamami, put us in the picture of the circumstances surrounding his
killing.
A. The
late Abu Baseer had deployed his al-Izz bin Abdessalam Brigade in the midmost
of Naba’ al-Murr (in Latakia province’s north).
I was
alongside Commander Abu Baseer, God bless his soul, on his frequent inspection
visits to his brigade.
Yesterday
(Thursday) afternoon, we chose to return there to break our (Ramadan) fast
together with members of al-Izz bin Abdessalam Brigade.
While
heading there, we were stopped at a checkpoint sign reading the
(al-Qaeda-linked) “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”
The man in
charge of the checkpoint said, “No entry.”
Abu Baseer
told him, “Why are you denying us access? We are sons of this area, of Syria
and of this township.”
The man in
charge said, “These are the orders of the (Islamic State’s) Emir.”
Abu
Baseer: “We would like to meet this Emir. Where is your Emir?”
Abu Baseer
is a leading figure in Syria’s coastal region. He doesn’t need an introduction.
All (opposition) brigades deployed in Syria’s coastal area since the start of
the revolution know him.
We waited
for the Emir to make his way from the easternmost part of Latakia’s rural area
to its westernmost, where the checkpoint is situated.
The whole
thing was premeditated.
Q. You said, “Premeditated”?
A. Yes,
because they had us wait for their Emir, who goes by the name of Abu Ayman
(al-Baghdadi), for over one-and-a-half-hours.
During the
one-and-a-half-hour wait we were conversing with the fighters manning the
checkpoint.
One of
them was Moroccan.
Abu Baseer
told him, “Since you hail from Morocco and are now in Syria, the checkpoint
sign should read Syrian Arab Republic. This is Syrian territory and no one
else’s.
“If you
want to be on our side and help us, you are welcome. But to come here with
alien ideas you wish to impose on this land is something we cannot let happen
-- not while we are here.”
Abu Ayman launched
into provocative remarks as soon as he arrived.
Our
retinue wanted to intervene, but Abu Baseer, God bless his soul, ordered them
to put away and lock up their arms in the car. He then turned to Abu Ayman and
said, “I wouldn’t point my weapon at a fellow Muslim.”
Abu Ayman
didn’t seem to be all ears. He gave no heed to the remark. He simply told Abu
Baseer, “We won’t allow the FSA to operate here.”
Abu Ayman
then turned to us and said we were all Takfiris.
“I am
killing Abu Baseer,” he blurted out as he shot him dead.
Three
members of our escort were also wounded.
Q. Was Abu Baseer’s a targeted killing or was the plan
to assassinate any FSA commander and thus send a message to the whole FSA
command?
A. The
specific target in this instance was Abu Baseer, yes.
Abu Ayman
told me in the face, “We shall wipe out all the FSA leaders. None of them will
be spared.” That’s what he said.
In truth,
we don’t want these aliens in our midst. We don’t need them. We don’t want
fighters from outside Syria.
If
properly armed, the Syrian people are able to liberate their country without
outside help. Had the international community given us the required weapons and
ammunitions, we would have brought down the regime long ago.
Q. The FSA says the assassination was a “declaration
of war.” The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has specifically shut out the
FSA from all over the Latakia region – and perhaps from throughout northern
Syria. How does this affect you and the Syrian revolution?
A. What
operations did these people ever mount in Syria’s coastal region? Abu Baseer
was among the first officers and revolutionaries to establish a presence there.
He liberated the Jabal
al-Kurd and the Turkmen Mountains.
These
people came into the liberated areas but nowhere else. Did you ever see them in
Qusayr, Tel Kalakh, Deraa or Homs? They only turn up in liberated areas,
bringing with them alien ideologies that they want to impose on the Syrian
people.
Q. What do you intend doing after Abu Baseer’s
assassination?
A. We want
these people out. We don’t want them in the Syrian people’s areas.
If they
wish to fight for the objectives of the Syrian people’s revolution, fine. But
if they came to serve their own agendas and be a thorn in our flesh and a torn
in the side of the revolution, then we won’t give them any chance whatsoever.
