Syria Detains 13 French Officers in Homs, Daily Star Says

[jakeXT]

Source: Bloomberg, Daily Star

Syrian authorities are holding 13 French military officers in the central city of Homs, which was the scene of fighting between government troops and a rebel army, the Beirut-based The Daily Star reported.
The French officers are in custody at a field hospital in Homs, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed Damascus-based pro-Syrian Palestinian official in Beirut.
Syrian and French authorities are seeking to resolve the issue, the newspaper reported.
A spokesman for the the French Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Read more: http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/syria-detains-13-french-officers-in-homs-daily-star-says.html

---

Interesting if confirmed and/or exploited by Syria.

[vjiofdsa8]

1. Spam deleted by Stinky The Clown (MIR Team)

[leveymg]

2. Why do I get the feeling they weren't just picnickers on a bicycle tour through the area?

?w=590&h=393

[FarCenter]

4. Some days ago, a thread had a picture that included what looked like a special forces operative

It was a picture of three guys on a balcony overlooking some scene demonstration or conflict in the street below. Two guys were Syrian looking and had AKs IIRC. The third was European looking and carrying a state of the art weapon with a telescopic sight. I looked for a picture matching his weapon on the web. It didn't appear to be the HK used by the SEALs. Possibly it was French.

[leveymg]

5. Please repost that picture and the article it was linked to.

Thnx.

[leveymg]

7. Here's a site with photos of various current French Special Forces rifles:

One of these? http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/11/23/french-army-to-replace-the-famas-rifle/

[FarCenter]

10. It was similar to the H&K 416, but IIRC, the stock was different.

The sight and supressor were like the 416 pictured. Can't recall the details of the action.

I couldn't find the picture. It was in a comment on a post either in discussion or late breaking news, probably a week to two weeks ago.

[leveymg]

14. The US AR-15 is very similar the HK 416, and there are lots of them out there. Is this it?

If it was an AR-15, likely not French Special Forces equipment.

US Special Forces AR-15


HK 416 (variants)*


(models immediately above also used by US Special forces)

[pampango]

3. A foreign ministry spokesman in France said: “We deny the idea that there are French troops on the..

ground”. A defence spokesman said: “We have no information on this. We neither confirm nor deny it".

Damascus has not commented on the presence of French troops on Syrian soil.

The report claiming that French officers are on the ground came from the Daily Star, a reputable newspaper in Beirut. The Daily Star cites a Damascus-based Pro-Syrian Palestinian source as alleging that the French troops are being held in a field hospital in Homs.

The report did not say whether the French troops were part of the mission to evacuate the reporters, who had been holed up in a safe house for one week following the deadly shelling.

But in an interview this morning with France Info radio, William Daniels, the French photographer who escaped with Edith Bouvier, denied any contact with French forces. “I never saw any French troops during this operation. We were only with Syrians from the (rebel) Free Syrian Army. We owe our escape to them,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9122749/Thirteen-French-officers-captured-by-Syrian-Army.html

Should be interesting once the facts are sorted out.

[leveymg]

6. Perhaps some of those "Syrians from the (rebel) Free Syrian Army" spoke perfect Parisian French?

I would really like to know the identity of the snipers (nice, practiced roll-out), who first got the blood flowing, seen in this video from late last March (note that someone is returning fire from below, reportedly policemen, a number of whom were killed that day):

And what prompted this little gang of (apparent) street hoods to start firing on policemen and demonstrators, as shown here:

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. Something doesn't sound right about this.

Why are the French involved? This isn't a NATO operation and the French don't strike me as the types to go this alone without NATO support.

[JackRiddler]

9. Empirically speaking, the French have always been the type, especially with "their" empire...

France is an imperialist power and they go it alone all the time, especially in places where they think of themselves as the former colonial masters, such as Syria and Lebanon. They recently intervened in Côte d'Ivoire, and I'm sure there are many other examples I'm missing. Back in the 1994 France intervened to support the Hutu "genocidaire" government during the genocide itself. Of course everyone should know of the long, murderous wars they fought in their post-WW2 attempts to keep Indochina and Algeria as colonies.

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. I stand corrected.

Everyone probably *should* know, but I am not a history buff. Just going off recent history on US actions, they appear to be supportive, but not proactive/aggressive about it.

It just surprises me, what with NATO and the Arab Alliance standing to the side on this, that they would interject on their own.

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Hmm, still nothing but that initial report.

You would think if it were true, the Syrian government would be making the most of it.

[FarCenter]

13. Leverage -- recall that the French elections are April 22

What is it worth to Sarkozy to not have this blow up in his face? The Syrians would want to find that out before going public.

[FarCenter]

12. There are rumor site reports from Friday that the officers were accompanied by 100 troops

The Lebanon Daily Star now has a malware warning from Google. It is usually OK.

Of course, these need not be actual French troops -- there are plenty of rent-a-merc outfits around.

[Posteritatis]

15. Or the Syrian government could simply be lying. (nt)

[FarCenter]

16. There is no indication that the Syrian government has said anything. (nt)

[Fool Count]

18. They are most likely ex-French Foreign Legion mercenaries hired by Qataris or Saudis

to train and help FSA. Even if they were the French covert regulars, that would be their cover.

[David__77]

19. Oh this is nonsense.

And if Syria has them, they would be smart to publicize it thoroughly. It is certainly possible that such combatants would not deserve the protection of the Geneva convention, and as such could be televised, etc. But they don't exist, so it's irrelevant.

[leveymg]

20. More likely a very quiet exchange. That's the usual way they do this sort of thing.