translator: there are seven tactical vehicles and three houses. and god willing, we ll be attacking this checkpoint. reporter: this specific one, i ask. translator: yes. this specific unit did a lot of killing. reporter: this is what turned ahmed against the government. a peaceful protest last may. ahmed was in it when government soldiers opened fire, gunning them down. [ gunfire ] ahmed and other sources say up to 40 people were killed as army troops continued to fire into the scattering crowds of protesters. translator: we were stunned. some people stood still. some people fell dead. we expected something like tear gas, but we never expected this kind of killing. reporter: ali and ahmed want to make sure that never happens again. translator: once the weapons are in the hands of the people,
their fortified positions. this is new. the rebels finally have a safe haven. translator: bashar and his supporters are cowards. the tyrant regime controls only where it keeps the tanks. that s it. reporter: eventually, we reach ali s unit. these are his men. his brothers in arms. four of them are actually his own brothers. but he s about to put their lives on the line. ali sends his brother ahmed, his top lieutenant, to lead a dangerous scouting mission into their hometown called marayan to assess the strength of assad s military positions there. so we re now in between two syrian army posts. there s one down that street and another in that direction. reporter: ahmed takes us to a house to show us the government outpost.
ali is leaving them to go back to syria, back to the front lines. go. go. reporter: at daybreak ali and a few of his men quietly cross the barbed wire fence and leave turkey for syria. he kisses the ground, thankful he s back in the fight. once in syria, a driver offers the men a lift. an early sign of the rebels growing popular support. translator: we finally made it back to syria, and god willing, we will not abandon the cause. reporter: 32 years old, ali was an air-conditioner repairman. but this is now his life. ali is a commander of a citizens militia he founded. to fight against president bashar al assad s brutal dictatorship. translator: they insulted our
assad s army will disintegrate. reporter: but those weapons are in short supply. ali s unit only has about 150 guns, a few rocket-propelled grenades, and a handful of homemade bombs. ali s brother ahmed managed a restaurant before the war. now he s cooking up fertilizer and sugar into explosives for the planned assault on government forces occupying marayan. but it s a recipe he still hasn t quite figured out. the pot gets too hot, and the mix goes up in flames. it s a mistake they can t afford to make. it s time now for ali and his war council to decide if they can attack government forces in marayan. but in the end ali decides he can t do it, not yet. he doesn t have enough guns. his explosives are ruined.
honor. it was time to take up arms. reporter: but taking up arms has a price. after ali joined the revolution, the syrian government burned down the homes of his parents, his grandparents, and his uncles. translator: every time they kill one person, the rebels grow in number. every time they burn a house, the demonstrations multiply. reporter: in a year ali s force has grown from 15 to 635 fighters. and they don t work alone. ali and his men leapfrog from one rebel unit to the next. surprisingly, they operate openly, carrying weapons, using the main roads. at rebel checkpoints ali s fighters are given safe passage. the rebels move so confidently because syrian troops have mostly withdrawn from the countryside and pulled back to