Why some Syrian fighters transferred to Turkey vow to return

Although Ahrar al-Sham is associated with al-Qaeda, the people of Zabadani who were forced to flee to Turkey when the regime took over consider it a moderate group and continue to support it.
A Sunni Muslim rebel fighter who was trapped with other fighters in Zabadani, arrives at Bab al-Hawa near the Syrian-Turkish border December 29, 2015. A U.N. operation to evacuate around 450 Syrian fighters and their families from two besieged Syrian areas was completed on Monday with the arrival of planes carrying them to Beirut and Hatay airport in Turkey, U.N. and airport sources said. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah - RTX20DJB
A Sunni Muslim rebel fighter who was trapped with other fighters in Zabadani, arrives at Bab al-Hawa near the Syrian-Turkish border, Dec. 29, 2015. A UN operation to evacuate around 450 Syrian fighters and their families from two besieged Syrian areas was completed on Monday with the arrival of planes carrying them to Beirut and Hatay airport in Turkey. - REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah
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Shelly Kittleson
@shellykittleson
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REYHANLI, Turkey — The gray-haired rebel battalion commander sat on his cheap hotel bed, intact leg tucked under his amputated one, smoking.

Injured in the regime-besieged Syrian resort town of Zabadani about 4½ months before Al-Monitor spoke to him, he said that for 20 days, he had hoped that medical treatment would manage to save his leg.

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