Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Syria’s rebel movement has claimed a dramatiac expansion in forces and weapons over
the last two months.

The Free Syrian Army said it has nearly doubled its forces in 2012 to
70,000, most of them comprised of deserters from the military of President
Bashar Assad.

FSA, which reported a membership of 40,000 in late 2011, also
said it has acquired weapons that could destroy Syrian Army main battle
tanks and helicopters.

“We can’t say that we are in complete control of certain areas, but we have access to 60 percent of Syria,” FSA commander Col. Riad Assad said.

In an interview with the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat, Assad, no
relation to the Syrian president, said FSA now contains five Syrian Army defectors with the rank of brigadier-general. He said the Syrian military, despite overwhelming superiority, has lost a helicopter and five MBTs to rebel forces over the last few days.

The FSA chief, citing the RPG-7 and -14, said the rebels badly needed anti-tank guided missiles and surface-to-air missiles to counter the regime’s armor and air superiority. Assad vowed that FSA would imminently conduct several major operations that would stun the regime.

On March 11, FSA units opened fire on Syrian security forces in downtown
Damascus. Opposition sources said automatic fire as well as other weapons
were heard in several neighborhoods of Damascus. They said several Syrian
soldiers were killed.

Assad reported a sharp drop in military recruitment over the last year.
He said no more than 5,000 youngsters, the vast majority Alawites, entered
the Army. Until 2011, Syria had drafted about 50,000 per year.

FSA has reported receiving Arab assistance. Assad said the rebel
strategy was to sustain a guerrilla war that eventually drove the Soviet
Union out of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

  000, Alawites, Bashar Assad, Col. Riad Assad, Damascus, Free Syrian Army leader reports doubling forces to 70, Syria regime’s armor and air superiority, Syrian Army tanks and helicopters