VIDEO AND TIMECODE

AUDIO

Free Syrian Army (FSA) members on a night mission filmed on night vision camera

00:13

00:34

Abu Ali (AA) interview:

These guys with me are from the Free Syrian Army.

They are defected soldiers from the army of the Syrian regime.

We’re on a surveillance mission.

It’s an army base and there’s security forces and shabiha.

Our mission is to survey the base: The number of men, their equipment and combat capability.

After we finish our surveillance we will inform the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in north Syria, in Jisr Shughour.

AA in field:

I feel proud that we the Free Syrian Army can say that we are here, that we are here on the ground.

And hopefully soon we will conduct large operations.

Operations to topple the regime.

00:56

FSA members with guns at night seen crossing from Lebanon into Syria

VO: Eight months into a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is now facing the reality of a threat which for so long was only a fiction: An armed rebellion seeking to topple him by force.

But the men now turning their guns on the Assad family’s 41-year dictatorship are not the criminal gangs or terrorists the regime claims, but members of Syria’s own security forces, defected after refusing to open fire on unarmed protesters.

01:27 AA main interview in red kufaya scarf

01:28 Title: ‘Abu Ali’ Commander of Free Syrian Army unit

AA:

I was an officer in the regime’s army

Actually I wasn’t an officer in the army, I was a member of Military Intelligence

I defected from the regime because I used to see a lot of the things the regime did

How they oppress the people, their iron grip on the people

How they assault people. How the regime is like a criminal gang.

01:51 AA on night mission

VO: Abu Ali is an unlikely freedom fighter.

Dressed in the trademark leather jacket of the Syrian secret police, Abu Ali spent his early career as an enforcer of the police state, a member of Syria’s feared Military Intelligence.

02:01 AA main iv

02:11 AA main iv second cam

AA: We were authorised to do whatever we wanted.

Who gave the orders? The general leader, President Bashar

So it was like a genocide against the people. And I was part of it.

The army went to the streets and shelled houses with tanks.

We shelled the civilians and the demonstrations

02:20 Abu Ali sits in local mosque

02:26 CU AA hands

02:29 worshippers from behind

VO: Having defected and fled across the border from Syria into Lebanon, Abu Ali prays with other Syrian refugees in a local mosque for the downfall of the Assad regime.

02:37 worshippers from standing to kneeling

02:40 AA kneeling

02:48 worshippers from behind

02:53 CU Imam preaching

02:57 worshippers from behind

Imam:

Oh God bring to Bashar and his soldiers an earthquake

May God bring to Bashar and his soldiers an earthquake

And let what happen to them be an example

And let what happen to them be an example

And let the aim of destroying them be the goal, oh God

And let the aim of destroying them be the goal, oh God

They don’t have religion or morals

02:58 AA with men and map

AA:

Here we are on the border. We are in this area.

They planted the mines in this area here.

03:13 AA main iv

03:17 AA main iv second cam

AA:

After I joined the Free Syrian Army a group of deserted soldiers joined me.

I am a commander now. A field commander. We carry out operations.

03:23 AA men and map

03:26 CU FSA member looking

03:28 CU FSA member looking

03:30 AA men and map

AA:

We will enter from this position.

We can cross from here.

We’ve demined the area secretly.

It’s a very narrow crossing. We will pass from this point.

03:37 AA main iv

03:48 CU marking on map

03:53 CU FSA member looking

03:56 AA main iv second cam

04:00 AA main iv

AA:

Depending on our orders we either help the peaceful protesters.

If there’s injured protesters or martyrs we transfer them and protect them

We may shoot at security forces or shabiha if they open fire on demonstrations

We protect them. That’s our job.

Pan across valleys of north Lebanon

VO: A short distance across the remote valleys that form the border between north Lebanon and Syria, a second commander of the Free Syrian Army, also a defected soldier, explains why he believes only force can end the violence in Syria.

04:21 Qoteiba main iv

04:22 Title: ‘Qoteiba’ Free Syrian Army unit commander

04:32 Loading shotgun rounds into clip

04:36 loading shotgun from side

04:39 loading shotgun from front

04:49 loading clip into shotgun

04:51 FSA member flashes V watching Gaddafi on TV

04:59 Qoteiba kneeling with shotgun

05:12 FSA member flashes V watching Gaddafi on TV

Qoteiba:

Why are we necessary?

I will ask you this question: If you saw two people fighting and one defeated the other and one of them was shooting and one was unarmed, wouldn’t you defend the weak?

As a military we don’t have enough ammunition. We have only light arms

And we also lack equipment

In Syria we said if we had external support from the EU or Turkey or the US or UK or France

It should be for an independent military area for our army to gather

A no fly zone and military support with weapons,

So we are strengthened for our next step against the regime

Until it becomes just the same as Gaddafi’s regime, defeated and behind bars.

05:18 Riad Asaad on YouTube

05:19 Riad Asaad ID card

05:26 Defected soldiers riding through street in pick up

VO In an interview for this film the leader of the Free Syrian Army, Riad Asaad – who is no relation to the ruling family - said his rebel army had grown fast.

05:38 Defected soldiers announcing

05:42 Defected soldiers announcing

05:47 Defected soldiers walking out onto street, greeted by locals

Voice of Riad Asaad:

The Free Syrian Army is the army of the people, the army of the nation.

It grew out of the Syrian army of the tyrant that is killing people in Syria. The Free Syrian Army got organized three months ago due to more defections from soldiers and officers and it now has divisions all over Syria.

05:59 Asaad reading statement on YouTube

VO: Asaad, who is based in Turkey, insisted the move towards an armed rebellion did not spell a descent into civil war in Syria.

06:03 Asaad reading statement YouTube

06:08 Defected soldiers greeted by local people

06:13 Defected soldiers make statement

06:17 Defected soldiers make statement

06:22 Defected officer holds up an RPG

Voice of Riad Asaad:

We respect all sects in Syria. They have what we have and we do not favour one person over the other

We call for a true democratic country, to be a civil state with all that means.

All people are represented on the street so elections should be held for all people

06:29 Defected soldiers carried on shoulders of local people

VO But before elections can happen in Syria, the Free Syrian Army say attacks against Assad’s security forces must be stepped up.

06:38 Young FSA guy explains to Abu Ali about firing an RPG

06:43 CU AA pointing at laptop screen

06:45 Overhead three men sitting

06:49 Profile view of young FSA guy

06:50 Overhead three men sitting

06:55 Profile view AA and man

07:00 Overhead three men sitting

07:05 CU AA points laptop screen

07:06 CU young guy points screen

Young FSA guy:

There was a tank around it there were soldiers I stood here away from it.

Abu Ali: What was the distance between you and them when we gave your orders to shoot?

It was around 150 or 200 meters

I stood here the first. Of course, the first rocket didn’t work. I took it out and changed it. And launched the second one that’s when they were firing me.

Abu Ali: that’s you?

Yes this is me. I was holding the RPG I launched it here.

Abu Ali: Did you hit your target?

Of course.

07:16 FSA soldier explains why defected

07:26 AA standing leading prayers

07:32 CU FSA soldier explains why defected

07:37 AA kneeling to pray

FSA soldier explains why defected:

When we joined the army we swore to defend the country from the enemy

It was not to fight our people if they demanded freedom

Now we’re supporting the people to liberate them from injustice

They deceived us. We took our oath to defend the country, not the ruling family

07:43 Two heads bowing in prayer

07:46 CU two men wearing scarves praying

07:51 AA kneeling leading prayers

07:59 AA and FSA soldiers seen getting kitted up before mission, carrying guns

08:04 Pan across FSA men holding guns

AA:

God make us victorious against the tyrant of Syria

God make us victorious against Bashar and his collaborators

God please destroy his power and position

God give us the means to defeat him

08:08 CU FSA soldier in scarf

08:11 AA on night mission marking ground with knife

VO: Prayers done and dinner eaten, Abu Ali and his men set off on a mission under cover of darkness crossing the border from Lebanon back into Syria to survey a Syrian military base.

08:21 Soldiers seen jumping over a wall

AA: The ultimate goal of the Free Syrian Army is topple the regime

AA:

Seven! Two! Four! You, move over there!

08:45 Soldier seen lying with gun

Interview with young FSA soldier lying just outside Syrian military base:

How far are we from the Syrian border?

We are inside the Syrian border

What are you surveying?

The base. We’re observing the army in the base

Are you ready to fight with shabiha and Assad’s troops?

Yes, for sure. We can easily clash with them despite our lack of ammunition

09:26 AA from side with guns background

09:30 FSA soldiers emerging from darkness flashing V

09:32 AA main iv

09:40 FSA soldiers emerging from darkness flashing V

09:45 fade to black

AA:

We ask the international community to put pressure on the Syrian regime

And pressure President Bashar to step down

We ask the international community to arm the Free Syrian Army because we have only a few arms and even less ammunition