11 12 2018 FSA

SYRIAN WAR REPORT – DEC. 11, 2018: PROMINENT FSA COMMANDER DEFECTS TO GOVERNMENT FORCES Late on December 10, the US-backed SDF captured a hospital building in the ISIS-held town of Hajin. Fadi Gabriel, a prominent commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), defected from the Turkish-occupied area of Afrin and joined the reconciliation process with the Syrian government, Syrian opposition sources revealed on December 9. Gabriel was one of the top security commanders of the Turkish-backed Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, which participated in the attack against Kurdish forces in Afrin earlier in 2018. The group is led by an infamous Turkish-backed “freedom fighter”, Abu Amshah. He was accused of raping a wife of one of his fighters. In the recent years, dozens of Turkish-backed fighters and commanders defected. Opposition activists speculate that most of these defectors are agents of the Syrian intelligence.