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Syria Rebels Divided, At Times Violent

(AP-Boston Globe) Ben Hubbard - One of northern Syria's most powerful and best-armed rebel commanders, Ahmed Eissa Al-Sheikh, boasts more than 1,000 fighters, and they don't shy away from rougher tactics themselves. They have released prisoners in bomb-laden cars and then detonated them at army checkpoints - turning the drivers into unwitting suicide bombers. While the regime has been brutal, so have some of the rebels - another cause of concern for the West. Several groups said they had sent captured soldiers "to Cyprus," which the rebels use as a euphemism for execution usually by gunfire. Almost all the rebels we met were from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, and many consider the fight a religious cause. But most fighters said they did not target other sects, only those who had fought for the regime.
2012-06-26 00:00:00
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