Free Syrian Army Commander: Attacks on Tanf Base Aimed at Sparking Side Conflicts

Commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Mohammed Farid al-Qassem during a field tour of the al-Tanf region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Mohammed Farid al-Qassem during a field tour of the al-Tanf region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Free Syrian Army Commander: Attacks on Tanf Base Aimed at Sparking Side Conflicts

Commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Mohammed Farid al-Qassem during a field tour of the al-Tanf region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Mohammed Farid al-Qassem during a field tour of the al-Tanf region. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Mohammed Farid al-Qassem sad the strikes against the al-Tanf base on the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border are aimed at sparking “side conflicts”.

The FSA is deployed at the al-Tanf alongside troops from the US-led anti-ISIS international coalition.

The base occasionally comes under drone attacks that are blamed on pro-Iran factions.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Qassem said his unit is the only one deployed in the 55-km region, which is a security belt or buffer zone that the American set up around al-Tanf.

He accused militias loyal to Iran of carrying out attacks against the base, but acknowledged that there was no evidence to back his claim.

The attacks are aimed at “dragging the region into side conflicts that do not help the Syrian people,” he added.

Such conflicts will make the area an open arena to carry out “destructive agendas.”

The area, he explained, is strategic because it is where the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders meet.

Moreover, Qassem stressed that the FSA is a “Syrian force that is opposed to the regime. The interference of the regime’s allies in the Syrian conflict forced the FSA to build international alliances that would meet their aspirations to build a new Syria.”

“We are open to working with all Syrian parties that want to become part of an alliance or share united Syrian agenda against the regime and ISIS,” he added.

On the drugs and arms smuggling operations taking place across the Syrian-Jordanian border, Qassem said the FSA and the international coalition have heavily deployed patrols along the border with Syria, Iraq and Jordan to crack down on the illicit operations.

The patrols have helped reduce the smuggling, he added, saying this was a priority for the forces in the area.

Qassem said the forces have “reached very positive results in combating smuggling in the past four months”. The latest drug smuggling operation was busted “just days ago.”



Lebanon: George Abdallah Released after 40 Years in French Jail

TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
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Lebanon: George Abdallah Released after 40 Years in French Jail

TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)

One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, will be released and deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats.

At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw, though they were unable to catch a glimpse of the 74-year-old grey-bearded prisoner.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.

The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release "effective July 25" on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.

He had been eligible for release since 1999, but his previous requests were denied as the United States -- a civil party to the case -- consistently opposed him leaving prison.

Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years.

Once out of prison, Abdallah is set to be transported to the Tarbes airport where a police plane will take him to Roissy for a flight to Beirut, according to a source close to the case.

Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. "He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations," Chalanset told AFP.

AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court's release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention center.

The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) -- a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group -- said for more than four decades he had continued to be a "militant with a struggle".

The appeals court in February noted that Abdallah "had not committed a violent action since 1984" and that Abdallah "today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle".

The appeals judges also found the length of his detention "disproportionate" to the crimes and given his age.

Abdallah's family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport's "honor lounge" before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned.