$25m ‘Dead or Alive’ bounty on Assad denied by FSA spokesman

A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army has denied a news report this week that a bounty of $25 million (USD) for anyone who can capture the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ‘dead or alive.’

“The FSA has no affiliation with a Syrian opposition group in Egypt calling itself ‘the Free Syrian Army to protect the Revolution’ and their $25 million bounty on Bashar Assad’s head,” Louai Miqdad, spokesman of the Higher Revolutionary Council of the Free Syrian Army, said from Turkey on Tuesday, according to a CNN report.

Earlier Tuesday, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that a bounty would be paid by Syrian businessmen who support the rebels trying to oust al-Assad. The report cited FSA commander Ahmad Hijazi.

Reports from a number of international media outlets had said that the announcement from an unnamed commander in the FSA revealed that the funds for the bounty had been raised by anti-Assad business people in Syria.

According to FSA sources, the opposition is increasingly united with a solid nationalistic vision. However, inconsistent statements from different members of the FSA suggest otherwise.

An interview with Turkish Anadolu Agency, cited FSA commander Ahmed Hijazi as saying that the large bounty had been made feasible due to the support of multiple Syrian businessmen who he could not name for security reasons.

By contrast, another key figure in the opposition, Dr. Omar Zakariya said, in an interview with Al Arabiya English, that the FSA is on the verge of “forming a new structure in the next few days,” and refused to comment further saying that the reshuffle within the group will precede any further announcements about their strategy to overthrow Assad.

Asked who leaked the information about the alleged bounty, Zakariya said: “This is our problem, right now it is every man for himself.”

The civil war in Syria reached a turning point in August when Assad’s forces began widely using air power to put down the revolt.

Omar Idlibi, a Cairo-based activist with the Local Coordination Committee, is reported to have said “Last month's [August] acts of violence were unprecedented,” in article for the Huffington Post.

He explained that the increased use of the Syrian Air Force and artillery bombardment was a definite factor in the spike in deaths. The death toll last month was the highest yet, with activists claiming that more than 5,000 civilians were killed in the conflict.

The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, at the beginning of September, that the death toll for the 18 month conflict was more than 26,000 people. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria does not count military deaths in the toll saying that the death toll amounted to approximately 23,000 citizens.

The FSA is fighting to overthrow the regime, which many international figures have blamed for mass killings and consistent bombardment of residential areas for almost 18 months.