Syria rebels bloodied, battered, but defiant

Syrian rebels drag away a wounded fighter after a battle with President Assad's military forces in northern Syria, Feb. 8, 2012.

/ CBS

CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward was on the front lines with Syrian rebels Wednesday as they battled President Bashar Assad's forces near a city in the country's north. She saw the poorly armed group of men - most of whom have no military training - engage a military checkpoint manned by professional Syrian soldiers.

The clash ended with the rebel fighters retreating, dragging four of their comrades back as they died from wounds.

Syria's opposition and the so-called Free Syrian Army that supports it are facing daunting odds, both in the north and further south in Homs, the nation's third largest city and the focus of much of the Assad regime's reprisals against the uprising which began almost a year ago. But they won't back down.

Syria forces continue weeklong assault on Homs

Assad's army is attacking entire communities of Syrian people, engaging in battles not with shadowy insurgent groups and terrorists, as the president himself often claims, but with the teachers, farmers, and factory workers whose homes are being surrounded by tanks and artillery, and in many cases blown up with them still inside.

After the deadly clash Ward witnessed on Wednesday (click the video player at left to see her full report), the prayers and chants of those in the tightly knit community echoed through the night, mourning the loss of the four fallen men and demanding Assad pay the price for his government's increasingly bloody assault.

The dead rebels' bodies were moved to a local mosque Thursday morning in a funeral procession which was itself a blatant and unambiguous challenge to the Assad regime.

Ward said thousands joined the angry procession, virtually the entire community, chanting against Assad and shouting prayers for Allah to have mercy on them.

While this city hasn't yet come under attack from the regime's mortars and rockets, as in Homs, there are tanks located around the city's edges, snipers frequently open fire on funeral processions, and there's at least one checkpoint or camp manned by Syrian army soldiers.

The funeral procession on Thursday, for the four rebel fighters killed in the clash the day before, marched defiantly right past that checkpoint - right past the dictator's loyal troops, chanting for his downfall.

Ward said the defiance is a common theme. The battered communities which have risen up against the Assad family's 40-year rule may be facing daunting odds, but even as they mourn their losses, they are looking the regime in the eye and saying loudly, you can kill us, but we will keep coming. We are willing to die.

[AnthonyCL801]

Do you remember school when we learnt about our civil war here in America??? Who helped us. HMMMMMMM.... We did. So long So long ago.

[FactNotRhetoric]

If "Saudi Puppet Obama" would quit sending HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of American dollars to the bloody, genocidal Saudi terrorists, this invasion of a sovereign country would end immediately. Of course the Syrian dictator is bad, but the bloody, genocidal, Hitler Like, Saudi Dictators are much worse.

"Saudi written Sharia Law" is in the constitution of Syria which turns Syria into a bloody, genocidal Saudi Dictatorship.

It's the "Saudi Puppet Obama" redirecting millions of American Dollars to the Saudi Muslim Brotherhood terrorists and the Saudi Al-Alqaeda, which were outlawed in Syria, until Puppet Obama gave them hundreds of millions of American dollars to break the law and invade Syria.

PUPPET OBAMA - STOP SACRIFICING MILLIONS OF LIVES, $TRILLIONS OF AMERICAN DOLLARS, AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS TO CREATE THE NEXT SAUDI-HITLER!
STOP THE SAUDI "NEW WORLD ORDER" AND THE MASSACRE OF MILLIONS.

.

[joe1022joe]

The Syrian People are in revolt! Who are these Syrian People who are in revolt? Are they the majority of Syrian People? Or are they a distinct minority of the population as a whole? Are these "rebels" made up mostly of opposing clans and religious sects?
How about this: The vast majority of the Syrian People are and have been satisfied to live under Assad's rule, as they were under his father's rule. Let's say of the 24 or 25 million people that make up the Syrian population, 4 or 5 million people are in revolt against Assad. That's a lot of people. That's enough to foment a civil war. Even 1 million would be enough to foment a civil war. Maybe 4 or 5 million is way too high an estimate. But that's not a majority or even close to a majority. No reliable information has been put forth re who is really behind the "rebels" and how many there are. The media support for the "rebels" seems really fishy. Per the liberal media, if a large minority of people are willing to start a civil war, the majority is supposed to let the minority overturn the government and the USA should help the minority. Not.

[usunus]

Hillary Clinton,Susan Rice,and Samantha Power were hailed as the passionate and committed advocates of military action against Libya.None of these ladies is now addressing the horrible state of affairs in Libya these days,as reported by NYT today.

[sirmarion-2009]

So sorry to hear the rebels have chosen to fight a battle they can hardly win.It is not our war and how can civilians not get killed when there is no telling the difference.

[pattonsb]

What can be done to bring the Russians and China on board?

[pattonsb]

I hope we can do more to bring the Russians and China on board.

[Jesus_Loves_Children]

Birth control and the Catholic Church

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York is terribly misguided in his judgment. He is a male chauvinist who does not understand what having a family is, the planning and preparation on the welcoming of a new baby in this difficult world. Frankly, if I was Jesus Christ I would fire the G_d d_mn_d bastard and shut the whole G_d d_mn_d organisation!

[sirmarion-2009]

Your whinning on the wrong blog,but just to answer your complaint it is not about controception,it is about the government tell a religious organization how to conduct its business.

[JavMD]

The MAIN MAN At the UN is worthless ! should be traveling and beating on Russia and CHINA... and pushing the local countries (ARABs) to do MORE.

PEOPLE WANT and are dying for freedom and 'we' stand around with our fingers up our behinds !

HELP PEOPLE get their 'freedom'... put the SANCTIONS on them like on IRAN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[usunus]

It seems to be a good career move for journalists to slip into trouble spots like this and send onesided, pro-rebel reports that would be branded "heroic " reporting by their bosses.The Syrian rebels are exploiting this to the fullest extent the way it was done by the Libyan rebels.

[joe1022joe]

USA should stay out of Syria! This a civil war. Let them fight their own civil war. Not one penny of our money should be spent on this Syrian Civil War. Not one American life should be lost. Most of the Syrian people seem to be quite content with Assad. A large minority from opposition clans are opposing Assad. Why does this require us to get involved? Answer: it doesn't. Let them fight it out amongst themselves.