Aleppo's most wanted man - the rebel leader

behind tunnel bombs

Commander of Aleppo's tunnel forces is responsible for blasts that have killed Syrian troops
and boosted rebel morale
Martin Chulov
Tuesday 20 May 2014
Abu Assad, rebel commander of Aleppo's tunnel forces. Photograph: Zac Baillie for the
Guardian
The most wanted man in Aleppo is feeling satisfied. Less than a wee before, he had helped
pac the last of !" tonnes of e#plosi$es into a tunnel dug under a hotel and filled with %&rian
troops.
'( was sitting in this room,' said Abu Assad, the rebel commander of Aleppo's tunnel forces at
another of the cit&'s frontlines. %miling, he cupped his ear and added: ')e heard the blast from
here. (t made us $er& happ&.'
The e#plosion that destro&ed the *arlton *itadel hotel in central Aleppo on + ,a& rumbled
well be&ond the - miles ./"m0 between the bomb site and where the commander now sat
recalling that da&. (ts destructi$e force sent shoc wa$es through the well1dug1in %&rian
militar& command in the cit&'s until1then impregnable west, and 2olted to life an opposition
whose war had been going badl&.
The giant plumes of dirt and rubble that ballooned se$eral hundred metres s&ward as the hotel
crumbled, illing 341"4 %&rian troops, ha$e fast become one of the most 2aw1dropping images
of %&ria's ci$il war. (n three &ears of aerial blit5es, scud missiles, chemical attacs and suicide
bombs, little else had been captured so spectacularl& and in real time .$ideo0.
Object 1
Lin to $ideo: %&rian rebels destro& Aleppo hotel in e#plosion
'That was one of the best things about the operation,' said Assad. 'The effect on morale was
immediate. 6$er since, the men ha$e wanted to fight more than before. )e ha$e called this
'7peration Aleppo 6arth8uae'.
9e said the *arlton was being used as a barracs b& %&rian police officers and b& paramilitaries
nown as shabiha. %&rian officials angril& denounced the attac and the tunnel bombs used b&
the rebels, claiming the& were illing and maiming indiscriminatel& and destro&ing the cit&'s
soul and identit&.
:lush with the success of the bomb, Assad chose to re$eal himself to the Guardian as the leader
of Aleppo's tunnellers. 9e claimed not to be bothered b& the fact that showing his face would
gi$e an alread& furious militar& e$en more reason to hunt him down. '( want them to be scared
of me,' he said. 'The& need to now ( am coming for them.'
The band of underground rebels, around /441strong, are credited with doing more in less time
than an& other group in the 3+1month war to tae the fight to an ascendant militar& who, with
the help of their bacers, ha$e clawed bac lost towns and cities o$er the past &ear.
To mae gains abo$e ground, the tunnellers ha$e burrowed beneath it at least nine times in the
past si# months alone. '6$er& strange noise, e$er& shift in the ground, the& will thin it is us,'
said Assad, adding that he was gi$en the idea to start digging b& a Palestinian who $isited him
in northern %&ria last &ear.
'The& said the& had some success in Palestine, so ( decided to tr& it. (t wasn't hard to find the
e#plosi$es. ( ha$e personall& super$ised nine tunnels.'
;or was it difficult to find $olunteers prepared to dig through roc and stone under the ancient
heart of Aleppo, the arches and millennia1old homes and mos8ues which separate regime and
opposition forces in some places b& onl& a few do5en metres.
Assad, a rural carpenter before the war, said the hotel tunnel was /4< metres long and too 33
da&s to build. 7ther subterranean digs ha$e stretched for +=4 metres and needed man& months.
')e ha$e more surprises for them, God willing,' he said. 'The& are taing a little longer.'
(t sa&s much about the unrelenting conflict that the onl& real shifts in a stagnant battlefield ha$e
come through re$erting to b&gone forms of warfare.
*hemicals used in the first world war, but not outlawed, ha$e helped the regime secure
>amascus. %cud missiles, a t&rant's deterrent of choice a 8uarter of a centur& ago, ha$e
pul$erised the north. And now tunnel bombs, used first in the middle ages, then b& ?omans,
($an the Terrible, British forces on the western front, and Palestinian militants in Ga5a, ha$e
made gains where con$entional attacs ha$e failed.
,edie$al sa$ager& has become s&non&mous with %&ria, where more than /=!,444 people ha$e
been illed since the insurrection morphed into open war, and close to half the countr&'s
population has been displaced.
Assad fears that nothing will change soon in the north of the countr&, which now looms as a
decisi$e landscape in the battle for who, if an&one, will e$entuall& win.
')e thought $er& hard before we went for this t&pe of war,' he said. 'But we did not ha$e an&
choice. )e needed to do things this wa& to help us and to help the people.
'The first tunnel we dug was on the !4th da& of ?amadan last &ear. (t was onl& /< metres and it
did not tae long. There were // soldiers and an especiall& brutal Alawite officer and there was
no other wa& to get rid of them.'
That tunnel, lie the eight others dug since b& his unit, which is part of the main rebel unit in
the north, Liwa al1Tawheed, car$ed a path through Aleppo's historical core.
Both sides face off against each other near a @nesco1listed citadel that has stood firm through
nearl& 3,444 &ears of in$asions and purges. This withering war poses perhaps the most serious
threat &et to its formidable stone walls, which Assad's men ha$e been accused of threatening
with their tunnel bombs.
:rom a $antage point near the tunnel entrance used to destro& the hotel, the citadel shows no
signs of damage. (ts walls soar defiantl& from the edge of a no1man's land around !44 metres
awa&. Paper and rubbish swirl in eddies near the mound on which it stands. But not a soul
mo$es through the abandoned buildings and masonr& nearb&. The *arlton hotel, though, is a
pile of brics.
The bombed site of the
*arlton *itadel hotel, seen from a rebel position in the old cit& area of Aleppo. Photograph: Zac
Baillie for the Guardian
'(f the& want to tal about the historical sites,' Abu Assad said of %&rian officials, 'let's loo at
what the& ha$e done. The& torched the old maretplace Anearb&B. ,ost of the old mos8ues ha$e
been damaged b& them.
')e ha$e done e$er&thing we could not to touch the important places. )e recognise how
important the& are.'
A hea$& weapon roared to life from inside the citadel, but the rebels standing guard on the
frontline didn't stir. Through plastic pipes which act as sniper positions, the& had not seen a
regime soldier in at least three months and the constant firing from inside the fortress posed
little threat.
')e are on the front foot here,' said 7mar %aran, an ageing fighter in a
brown dishdasha .robe0. 'The& can't ad$ance, but the tunnels are woring.'
Bac at the second frontline in an industrial area north1east of the cit&, Assad said he had a
message for his enem&. '(s there still an arm& fighting for BasharC 9asn't the %&rian arm&
delegated to (ranians, (ra8is and Lebanese A9e5bollahBC )e ha$e more of these bombs for
whoe$er is on the other side. The& will need more cemeteries.'