BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebels said Monday they had shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time, raising new questions about the opposition’s military capabilities, and whether Syria’s control of the skies might be threatened.
Syrian authorities insisted that the jet crashed because of a technical failure, but rebel groups and activists sought to win over skeptics by turning to YouTube. They posted one 33 second video showing a jet bursting into flames, and a second clip showing a man who said he was the plane’s pilot who had safely ejected before the crash.
The man, who identified himself as Farid Mohammed Sleiman, told his captors in the video that he had been given orders to fire on an area in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor – and when asked by an armed fighter beside him what he would like to say to the Syrian army, he provided a simple statement: “I tell them to defect from this gang.”
The videos, shared widely online, seemed intended to provide a morale boost for rebel fighters who have been complaining about the Syrian military’s command of the skies for months. The videos set off another round of speculation about whether President Bashar al-Assad could maintain his military advantage in the 17-month-old conflict for much longer.
“Regardless of how they did it, if they can put down a jet fighter then they can put down other planes as well,” said Sami Nader, an analyst and professor of international relations at St. Joseph University in Beirut. “The downing of the plane puts in place new rules of engagement and rules of dissuasion. The Free Syrian Army is showing us it can impose a no fly-zone; Assad’s trump card was the military but he is now losing this last card.”
What brought the jet down, however, was a subject of dispute. Local activists said that rebel fighters used a heavy antiaircraft machine gun that a local brigade had seized from a nearby military base.
Qassem, an activist in the area, known as Mohassen – which is about 15 miles from the city of Deir al-Zour — said that the rebels had commandeered the weapon a month ago, and had already used it once to shoot down a helicopter.
Mr. Nader said the rebels could be lying. He said the rebels might not be admitting that they have antiaircraft missiles provided by international allies, because those allies did not want to be seen as fueling the conflict.
None of these accounts could be independently verified because of the limits on reporting in Syria, especially in Deir al-Zour, a city far from Damascus and Aleppo, where most of the recent fighting has been concentrated.
And even as one group of rebels in the eastern corner of the country described what they considered a major achievement, other rebel commanders around Aleppo provided a different portrait of struggle and military limits.
As shelling continued throughout the area, Abdel-Aziz Salameh, the head of the revolutionary council in Aleppo and rebel-held territory to the north, met with fellow rebels in the basement of a nondescript building in Tal Rifaat, where commanders from the front were coming and going, providing updates and discussing plans. He was at the building only briefly, and quickly left. In an interview before departing, he said the rebels’ main problem was a shortage of ammunition, and one of their primary tactics was trying to cut off the supply routes of the large Syrian army force massed in and near the city.
"Our fighters are doing well," he said. ’But we are not able to give them enough ammunition. The whole problem with this revolution now is the shortage of ammunition."
The battle for Aleppo, he said, would swing decisively in the favor of the anti-Assad fighters if they had sufficient ammunition and could cut the roads stretching from Damascus and from Reqqa, and from the Aleppo International airport, the corridors upon which the government forces rely for resupply.
He also urged the West to take heed of the fighters’ success thus far, in battles they have fought largely alone. He said the West’s inaction had resulted in a loss of respect among the rebels toward Europe and the United States.
“The best thing, if the people of Europe and the West want to get back our trust and respect, then they must stand now, at this moment, beside the Syrian people,” he said. “The Syrian people will win this revolution, and the West will have lost the chance to stand beside us when we most needed them. It is a last chance to save the Syrian people’s respect for the West’s democracy.”
In Damascus, the commander of the United Nations monitoring mission said that two-thirds of its observers had already left the country, with a week left before the mission’s mandate expires. Confirming the continuing spiral away from democracy and toward all out civil war, the commander, Gen. Babacar Gaye, said that there were only about 100 observers left, and that they were concentrated in Damascus.
General Gaye strongly condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for using heavy weapons, which now include jets firing on at least three cities, according to rebels. And he urged Mr. Assad’s government to trade its military mind-set for “a mind-set of dialogue.”
“It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria,” he said. “The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians.”
Reporting was contributed by C.J. Chivers from Tal Rifaat, Syria, Dalal Mawad from Beirut, and Hwaida Saad from Antakya, Turkey.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 13, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated the proportion of United Nations observers that have been withdrawn. Two-thirds of the original 300 have left, not one-third.
Syrian authorities insisted that the jet crashed because of a technical failure, but rebel groups and activists sought to win over skeptics by turning to YouTube. They posted one 33 second video showing a jet bursting into flames, and a second clip showing a man who said he was the plane’s pilot who had safely ejected before the crash.
The man, who identified himself as Farid Mohammed Sleiman, told his captors in the video that he had been given orders to fire on an area in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor – and when asked by an armed fighter beside him what he would like to say to the Syrian army, he provided a simple statement: “I tell them to defect from this gang.”
The videos, shared widely online, seemed intended to provide a morale boost for rebel fighters who have been complaining about the Syrian military’s command of the skies for months. The videos set off another round of speculation about whether President Bashar al-Assad could maintain his military advantage in the 17-month-old conflict for much longer.
“Regardless of how they did it, if they can put down a jet fighter then they can put down other planes as well,” said Sami Nader, an analyst and professor of international relations at St. Joseph University in Beirut. “The downing of the plane puts in place new rules of engagement and rules of dissuasion. The Free Syrian Army is showing us it can impose a no fly-zone; Assad’s trump card was the military but he is now losing this last card.”
What brought the jet down, however, was a subject of dispute. Local activists said that rebel fighters used a heavy antiaircraft machine gun that a local brigade had seized from a nearby military base.
Qassem, an activist in the area, known as Mohassen – which is about 15 miles from the city of Deir al-Zour — said that the rebels had commandeered the weapon a month ago, and had already used it once to shoot down a helicopter.
Mr. Nader said the rebels could be lying. He said the rebels might not be admitting that they have antiaircraft missiles provided by international allies, because those allies did not want to be seen as fueling the conflict.
None of these accounts could be independently verified because of the limits on reporting in Syria, especially in Deir al-Zour, a city far from Damascus and Aleppo, where most of the recent fighting has been concentrated.
And even as one group of rebels in the eastern corner of the country described what they considered a major achievement, other rebel commanders around Aleppo provided a different portrait of struggle and military limits.
As shelling continued throughout the area, Abdel-Aziz Salameh, the head of the revolutionary council in Aleppo and rebel-held territory to the north, met with fellow rebels in the basement of a nondescript building in Tal Rifaat, where commanders from the front were coming and going, providing updates and discussing plans. He was at the building only briefly, and quickly left. In an interview before departing, he said the rebels’ main problem was a shortage of ammunition, and one of their primary tactics was trying to cut off the supply routes of the large Syrian army force massed in and near the city.
"Our fighters are doing well," he said. ’But we are not able to give them enough ammunition. The whole problem with this revolution now is the shortage of ammunition."
The battle for Aleppo, he said, would swing decisively in the favor of the anti-Assad fighters if they had sufficient ammunition and could cut the roads stretching from Damascus and from Reqqa, and from the Aleppo International airport, the corridors upon which the government forces rely for resupply.
He also urged the West to take heed of the fighters’ success thus far, in battles they have fought largely alone. He said the West’s inaction had resulted in a loss of respect among the rebels toward Europe and the United States.
“The best thing, if the people of Europe and the West want to get back our trust and respect, then they must stand now, at this moment, beside the Syrian people,” he said. “The Syrian people will win this revolution, and the West will have lost the chance to stand beside us when we most needed them. It is a last chance to save the Syrian people’s respect for the West’s democracy.”
In Damascus, the commander of the United Nations monitoring mission said that two-thirds of its observers had already left the country, with a week left before the mission’s mandate expires. Confirming the continuing spiral away from democracy and toward all out civil war, the commander, Gen. Babacar Gaye, said that there were only about 100 observers left, and that they were concentrated in Damascus.
General Gaye strongly condemned the government of President Bashar al-Assad for using heavy weapons, which now include jets firing on at least three cities, according to rebels. And he urged Mr. Assad’s government to trade its military mind-set for “a mind-set of dialogue.”
“It is clear that violence is increasing in many parts of Syria,” he said. “The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons by the government and targeted attacks by the opposition in urban centers are inflicting a heavy toll on innocent civilians.”
Reporting was contributed by C.J. Chivers from Tal Rifaat, Syria, Dalal Mawad from Beirut, and Hwaida Saad from Antakya, Turkey.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 13, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated the proportion of United Nations observers that have been withdrawn. Two-thirds of the original 300 have left, not one-third.