During the assault on the rebel stronghold in the Homs district of Bab Amr, the Syrian army took more than 1,500 prisoners, mostly foreigners. Of these, a dozen French nationals requested the status of prisoner of war, refusing to give their identity, rank and unit of assignment. One of them is a Colonel working for the DGSE transmission service.
In arming the Wahhabi Legion and feeding it with satellite intelligence, France conducted a secret war against the Syrian army, which caused more than 3,000 deaths among the military, and more than 1,500 among civilians in ten months of fighting.
This information was partially revealed by Thierry Meyssan during an appearance on the top Russian TV channel, on Monday, 13 February 2012, followed by an article published on Tuesday, the 14th, by Komsomolskaya Pravda and finally through a Voltaire Network TV video.
France has sought Russia’s assistance to negotiate with Syria the release of its prisoners of war.
Voltaire Network has found no evidence enabling it to confirm the allegations according to which 120 French nationals were taken prisoner in Zabadani. This rumor appears to be unfounded and, in any case, exaggerated.
However, Voltaire Network questions the articles by French special correspondents in Homs which have been published in recent days: one week after the takeover of the rebel district, and with nothing but low intensity urban clashes still taking place, these reporters persist in depicting a fictional revolution scenario, obscuring the truth from their readers, thus making it possible for Alain Juppé to negotiate in secret the return of the POW’s.
On 17 February, Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron signed a joint declaration, stating that "France and the United Kingdom wish to make it clear that those responsible for the violence in all parts of Syria should realize that the day will come when they will answer for their actions. France and the United Kingdom reiterate their determination to ensure that all the evidence of the crimes is duly collected so that those who ordered or committed atrocities can be held accountable. "
In the absence of an obligation stipulated in the relevant treaties, the secret war led by President Sarkozy and his government constitutes an unprecedented act under the Fifth Republic. It violates Article 35 of the Constitution and amounts to a crime punishable by the High Court (Article 68).