Former Terrorist Group Member says Gunmen Leaders “Enriched Themselves Shamefully, Sent us to Die”

 ATMEH, Syrian-Turkish Borders, (ST) – Abu Mahmoud, a former member of the so-called “Free Syrian Army”, accused his fellow commanders of marring what he called the “revolution” through corruption.

“We have been betrayed by thieves and corruptors,” Abu Mahmoud told AFP, stressing that some FSA leaders have enriched themselves shamefully at the cost of those who die on the front line.

Abu Mahmoud’s remarks confirm growing reports of looting and corruption by armed terrorist groups in Syrian areas under their control.

Speaking from his home in the town of Atme near the border with Turkey, Abu Mahmoud said he abandoned fighting with the armed groups and is now “chopping wood or grazing goats in the mountains.”

Many “FSA” members are increasingly abandoning their fight, frustrated at the level of corruption in their leadership, he said.

“These so-called commanders send us to die and they themselves stay behind to make money. They don’t come to the front line to fight and yet they are the ones who are heading the rebellion,” complained Abu Mahmoud.

“Wherever they go, they rob, they steal whatever they can carry and sell it illegally in Turkey – be it cars, electronic goods, machines, fuel, antiques, anything you can imagine!” he told AFP, citing names of dozens armed groups commanders who are engaged in such practices in Idleb and Aleppo.

“One officer, whose unit of around 100 fighters is reputed for raids on abandoned apartments in Aleppo, has sold arms, cars and even his office in the border town of Bab al-Hawa” to build two beautiful homes and marry a third wife.”, Abu Mahmoud added.

He also told of a former craftsman from Atme who was broke before the “revolution” but who is now controlling a fleet of luxury cars through assisting the “FSA” activities.

“The problem is that a lot of these officers are getting overseas support,” Abu Mahmoud said.

He said his group used to receive some money from Mustafa Sheikh, a former head of the “FSA” but this support has now stopped.

“On the front line we got some ammunition from officers but no weapons or money. We were being sent like sheep to be slaughtered. And we had nothing to eat,” said Abu Mahmoud.

“Who are we fighting for? For our country? Or for those who steal from the Syrians,” he wondered.

“I did not find any honest group that suited me,” he said, questioning even the ideology of the so-called “jihadists” who have been launching some of the most brutal attacks on government forces.

“I have a problem with the Islam that comes with these people. It is not the Islam that I know,” he said, questioning the identity and the political agenda of those “jihadists.”

H. Mustafa