海角大神

In an apartment in this Jordanian city that has become a rest stop for the Syrian opposition, Ahmed al-Hariri waits for the guns and ammunition听that he听says he听has听been promised.听It may be a long wait.

Hariri commands a brigade of 450 men in the Free Syrian Army听in his hometown of听Dara鈥檃 where the Syrian uprising began in 2011. Once courted by Western powers and funded by anti-regime exiles, support for the FSA has dried up听in recent months, and its demoralized fighters have听begun to desert.听Some end up听in the arms of armed opposition groups linked with Al Qaeda,听whose sectarian cause has attracted foreign fighters and funding, to the alarm of Western powers that initially backed the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

The US and Britain said last week that they had suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syrian rebels after Islamist rebels raided a warehouse run by an FSA-allied group, underscoring the crisis of leadership in Syria鈥檚 armed opposition. US officials said that FSA commander General Salim Idris had fled to Turkey.

鈥淎t the beginning of the revolution we got millions,鈥� says Hariri, who reports to a regional FSA commander. 鈥淔rom our countrymen in Kuwait we would get $80,000 or $100,000 every one or two months.鈥�

Now he says, his men are eating one meal a day and he relies on donations from his brother, a businessman, to keep them supplied with cigarettes and phone cards.

With fighting still raging in Dara鈥檃, Hariri say his fighters are on leave because there isn't enough t feed them. His group had been fighting in an uneasy alliance with some Al Qaeda affiliates against Syrian government forces.

鈥淚 have allowed most of the fighters to go on leave to find work because of lack of food,鈥� Hariri reads from a message from his deputy in Dara鈥檃. He says some of the men are considering offers to join Ahrar al-Sham, one of the main groups fighting for an Islamic state听that has undertaken joint operations with Al Qaeda affiliates. 听

鈥淭hey are good offers,鈥� Hariri says. 鈥淭hey are giving them vehicles and salaries. They have four-by-four vehicles and anti-aircraft guns. They are paying them $150 a month, that鈥檚 a huge amount of money for them. 鈥�

Jordan plays quiet role

Neighboring Jordan has quietly played a key role in helping coordinate听divided听FSA forces in the south of Syria, channeling Western aid, guns and ammunition. Wounded fighters are treated in Jordanian medical facilities.听FSA commanders travel here to meet with US, European, and Arab military and intelligence official. As part of its covert aid to the Syrian opposition, the CIA is leading the training of Syrian fighters in the south of the kingdom,听US officials say privately.

Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates continues to bankroll better-armed hard-line opposition groups, including those affiliated with Al Qaeda such as Jabhat al-Nusra ("Nusra Front"), according to Arab and Western officials.听The Nusra Front is believed to share some of the same leadership as Al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.

鈥淭he Saudis don鈥檛 believe they鈥檙e fighting for regime change, they believe they鈥檙e fighting Iran,鈥� says听an Arab official with knowledge of security matters.

With the focus on听UN-brokered听peace talks scheduled for January, much of the aid to the FSA has now almost stopped, according to FSA commanders and analysts.

鈥淔or four months now we鈥檙e not getting weapons. If we ask for coffee, they give us water,鈥� says Hariri. 鈥淓verything has decreased 鈥� the weapons, the ammunition, even the food.鈥�

The FSA has also been weakened by assassinations of its leaders, the resignations of others and deep internal divisions.听This disorganization 鈥� and the risk that arms would end up in the hands of militant groups听hostile to the West听鈥� is a long-standing concern of US government officials and one that has held back military assistance to FSA and other armed opposition groups.

鈥淭his notion of resource constraint collapsing the ranks of the FSA is something we鈥檝e seen playing out in slow motion,鈥� says Lara Setrakian, editor of the website Syria Deeply.

鈥淔SA members鈥�have essentially left the ranks to join Jabhat al-Nusra because they don鈥檛 have the resources to carry on and they feel they need protection from other groups like ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria),鈥� says Setrakian, who is based in New York.听鈥淛abhat al-Nusra is the lesser of the two evils.鈥�

Hariri says听fighters听who join Jubhat al Nusra are taken to a camp in Lajat in southern Syria. There they are indoctrinated in the group鈥檚 austere Salafist version of Islam.

Life before wartime

Before the war, Hariri lived in Kuwait and designed women's clothing, while also investing in a diaper factory in Damascus and a recording studio. "My life was simple 鈥� laughing and joking. I didn鈥檛 need anybody. Everything was alright,鈥� Hariri says.

But even then he says Syrian security forces听permeated every aspect of ordinary life. "Even if someone wanted to get married he had to get permission from security authorities.鈥�

Hariri had done his military service in Qardaha 听鈥� the city in Latakia province where Assad鈥檚 father was born and a stronghold of the ruling family鈥檚 Alawite minority. When the uprising started, Hariri says he took up his gun to protect protestors in Dara鈥檃. He says the first person he killed was an informer he shot dead in the street.

He was finally arrested and imprisoned.听In one prison, he says nineteen men slept standing up in a cell smaller than three feet long by five feet wide. There he says they were hung upside down, beaten and burned.

Hariri says he was finally released听in September 2012听after meeting an Arab League delegation that determined he had been tortured and asked for his release.

A month after he was released,听he and two other fighters opened fire on a military bus and an accompanying vehicle with machine guns, killing 46 security people, he says. It was not possible to independently verify Hariri's accounts of his exploits.

From the outside, Syria鈥檚 conflict is听seen as听a proxy battle between the West, the Arab world and Iran.听But for听Hariri鈥檚 men, who to fight for comes down to a stark equation.听

鈥淭hey will go where the weapons are鈥� If we run out of ammunition we will be killed by the regime.鈥�