No foreign fighters in Free Syrian Army, rebel leader tells euronews

Embedded with the Free Syrian Army, euronews’ reporter in Aleppo, Farouk Atig, secured an exclusive interview with one of the three FSA leaders in the region.

The 32-year-old former trader now claims to lead a brigade of 6,000 men. Despite heavy losses recently he says they have not been weakened:

“No no, we are not weak, on the contrary we are stronger than before. Currently, we are stronger than before. The soldiers of Assad’s army are reduced and demoralised. They are incapable of fighting on more than one front.”

Our correspondent asked if there were many foreign combatants among their ranks.

“Speaking of the Ettawhid brigade, I have never had a non-Syrian fighter. Regarding the other brigades, maybe Arab fighters are among them, but not so many. We thank them for that, but we do not need any more soldiers, we need weapons.”

He says the only weapons they have are those which have been captured from the enemy.

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