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10/08/2012 | A trip into Idleb (part one)

The Economist Staff

FIGHTERS and women weighed down by bags and young children emerge out of the night at the Syrian border with Turkey. They merrily greet the guides from a rebel group who are about to take us down to their base in Jebel Zawiya, a rebel-held region in the northwestern Syrian province of Idleb.

 

Smugglers have long trodden this grassy path. But since Syrian forces abandoned their posts in the northwestern area, crossing the border—an essential lifeline for supplies into the country as well as a route out—has become easier. Still, the relief on the Syrians' faces for having got out is hardly comforting as we wait to go in.

The rebels like to call Idleb, a stunning expanse of olive groves and wheat fields, small mosques and clutches of concrete houses, a liberated area, but that's not quite true. The Syrian regime has moved much of its heavy armoury to Aleppo, the commercial capital, where a furious battle with the rebels continues to rage. This has left many rural areas free: the village we stop at for food and a nap along the way could be far from the conflict, were it not for the chatter and stream of fighters passing through. But tanks and checkpoints with a penchant for lobbing shells control the main towns of Idleb and Ariha, and remain dotted around other outposts. Aeroplanes and helicopters whirr overhead. “Don’t worry,” says Ahmed, a veteran of the route from Turkey to Idleb. “We’re in control here.”

Indeed local knowledge allows the rebels, trussed up with jackets to hold their grenades, pistols and satellite phones, to navigate around with relative ease. Using walkie-talkies and contacts in the rebellious towns along the way, we weave our way down roads controlled by the thuwar (revolutionaries)—including stretches of the main motorways. The mood is joyful. Cars brandishing Free Syrian Army stickers speed by as passengers sing along to anti-Assad songs. When we accidentally crash into one, knocking off its wing mirror, there is little fuss; there are more important things to fight about here. After dabbing at the driver's cut, we jump back in the car with the guides who point out landmarks along the way: a shelled house here, a place of battle there, a regime airfield. They screech to a halt next to a field to pick figs. “You must try these! Have another!” says Yasser, a smiley father whose aim in coming along for the ride appears to have been to have us sample the delicious local fruit.

In some of the towns we pass through, councils run the show. But in other areas and in tiny farming hamlets (whose names, after 18 months of protests and massacres, are now known across Syria) it's the small signs of freedom that count. Black paint has been daubed over speed limits on the highway. Rebels manning checkpoints of stones, flags and barrels exchange niceties and information. Huts along the way display photos of President Bashar Assad at the doorway so all who pass must trample on his face. In the town of Taftanaz, where hundreds were killed in massacres this year, a signpost points to Gaza and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; a symbol of solidarity with other occupied areas and of hope for a new order in Syria and beyond.

But when the Syrian regime decides to move, the rebels are forced to alter their plans. In the small town of Sarmeen, less than an hour's drive from our destination, we get stuck for five hours. The government is moving tanks along the highway from the port city of Latakia to Aleppo, and has erected checkpoints around the nearby towns, including Sarmeen. There is no way out and all communications are cut. Our guides get grumpy and frustrated. Ali Bakran, who heads a rebel unit called the Qisas (Retaliation) Brigade, paces. “I have work to do,” he says. His men are struggling to get enough money and weapons; he needs to get back to take stock. He takes some solace from the explosions as local opposition fighters detonate IEDs along the road, damaging a number of tanks. Hopefully, say the rebels, with this sort of assault the regime will soon be pushed out completely. 

The Economist (Reino Unido)

 



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16/09/2009|
08/09/2009|
07/09/2009|
06/09/2009|
06/09/2009|
05/09/2009|
05/09/2009|
26/08/2009|
21/08/2009|
19/08/2009|
19/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
15/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
11/08/2009|
19/07/2009|
19/07/2009|
18/07/2009|
18/07/2009|
27/03/2009|
22/03/2009|
22/03/2009|
27/01/2009|
27/01/2009|
27/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
17/01/2009|
11/01/2009|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
06/12/2008|
23/11/2008|
23/11/2008|
16/11/2008|
16/11/2008|
04/11/2008|
04/11/2008|
03/11/2008|
03/11/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
24/10/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
15/09/2008|
06/09/2008|
06/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
05/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
01/09/2008|
22/08/2008|
22/08/2008|
17/08/2008|
17/08/2008|
16/08/2008|
16/08/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
28/07/2008|
19/07/2008|
19/07/2008|
24/05/2008|
24/05/2008|
03/05/2008|
03/05/2008|
29/04/2008|
11/02/2008|
05/01/2008|
09/12/2007|
18/11/2007|
10/11/2007|
10/11/2007|
06/11/2007|
06/11/2007|
06/09/2007|
26/08/2007|
25/08/2007|
11/07/2007|
16/06/2007|
16/06/2007|
10/06/2007|
10/06/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
19/05/2007|
24/04/2007|
24/04/2007|
14/04/2007|
14/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
05/04/2007|
28/02/2007|
28/02/2007|
05/02/2007|
05/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
04/02/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
29/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
11/01/2007|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
27/12/2006|
20/12/2006|
20/12/2006|
17/11/2006|
30/09/2006|
28/07/2006|
12/04/2006|
12/04/2006|
12/04/2006|
06/03/2006|
21/02/2006|
17/02/2006|
31/01/2006|
10/01/2006|
28/12/2005|
31/10/2005|
26/09/2005|
29/08/2005|
11/08/2005|
08/08/2005|
24/06/2005|
24/06/2005|
24/06/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|
03/04/2005|

ver + notas
 
Center for the Study of the Presidency
Freedom House