Cú Chulainn

Just concluded extended meeting w member of Syrian Opposition. Early in 2011, he participated in group that met w Assad. He later took up arms against the State before deciding to leave Syria & continue his activism from outside. Set below are notes of the meeting in Q/A form ==>

2-Q: What was the meeting w Assad like & what was your impression after you left? A: Even though I was in group, I did most of the talking. I explained our many grievances. His reply was firm. He said that the State won’t tolerate rebellion/insurgency. I left meeting depressed

3-Q: If Assad was this firm & clear with his response, why did still you decide to carry on? A: As a group, and having watched Tunisia & Egypt, we were certain regime won’t be able to respond way it had done in the past since we are now living in a different environment.

4-Q: Other than underestimating the way the regime would respond, what was other mistakes did you make? A: Leaving Syria and calculating that I can make a difference from outside. It didn’t take me long to realize how dysfunctional and ineffective were all the foreign based Opp

5-Q: Do you think that it was wise to take up arms against the State rather than do everything possible to stay peaceful regardless of what was thrown at you? A: The Street lost control of arms issue early on and it seemed it wasn’t easy or possible to avoid what had transpired

6-Q: Was it easy to get access to arms? A: It started with one individual that had access to Libyan rebels who supplied him with $1 million worth of arms. That was later repeated multiple times before Foreign Govts got involved & took us to another level

7-Q: Is that story of the large Croatian arm shipment true? A: Yes, that changed everything & took us to another level. The arms were newer and more advanced unlike the low quality we were receiving from Libyan rebels earlier

8-Q: Where were all arm shipments delivered & how did they make it inside Syria? A: Turkey was initial destination of all shipments & then Americans inspected every shipment before it was handed to our groups. We then had to pay Groups to deliver them inside