LBCI takes a tour of Wadi Khaled, meets Syrian rebel leader

LBCI crew took a tour of Wadi Khaled on Saturday, where it met an officer of the Syrian army defectors under the alias Ahmed el-Arabi.     

El-Arabi, who crosses the Lebanese-Syrian border on a daily basis, revealed that he is a former captain in the Syrian army.    

He added that he deserted the Syrian military on May 3, 2011, after he was ordered to fire on protesters.    
El-Arabi pointed out that he was, for several times, a commander for 500 combatants, withholding information on their location or movement from and into Syria.    

Asked how the defectors are managing to move around, El-Arabi said “their movements are tactical.”    

As he admitted to be subjected to pressure from the Lebanese state, El-Arabi said that he is working on transferring Syrians that were injured in clashes with the pro-regime forces to hospitals in north Lebanon.   

El-Arabi said that he is active on the internet and maintains contact with revolutionary activists within and outside Syria in order to follow up on the anti-regime protests and the mobilization of dissidents.      

El-Arabi revealed that, according to military records, the defectors reached 85,000 in number, adding that leaders working under the command of Colonel Riyad Asaad have reached 17,000 and their number is increasing domestically without the need for any external push from Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey.     

On the other hand, El-Arabi refuted the existence of a training camp or a base to smuggle arms into Syria from Lebanon.