Free SEAL Team Six: Hunt the Fox by Don Mann, Ralph Pezzullo

Mosque.
    Inspector Evren rubbed his hands together and in a pinched voice asked, “You sure you don’t mind if I ask you these questions?”
    Crocker, who hadn’t expected this, looked at Anders, who nodded.
    “No. Not at all,” he said, feeling strange talking about something he hadn’t had time to process fully in front of a group of strangers.
    “First, all of us express our deep condolences about Mr. Munoz,” Evren said. “Many of us here worked with him and considered him a friend.”
    Crocker assumed he was talking about Jared. “Thank you.”
    “The initial attack took place on Torun Sokak?”
    “Just around the corner from the bazaar. That’s correct.”
    “How many individuals were involved?”
    “I saw four men altogether. Two in a van and two on a motorcycle. I noticed the two motorcycle men on the sidewalk first. I observed that they were following Jared. I was behind him. When I turned onto Torun Sokak, I saw that Jared had been pushed into a van. I rushed to his aid. He was killed while trying to get away. I encountered the two motorcycle men again when they attacked me in a shop on Kabasakal.”
    By the time he had finished, Crocker noticed that his heart rate was elevated and he had started to perspire.
    “Thank you, Mr. Wallace. We’re very sorry for your trouble. You might want to know that we were able to capture one of the wounded men from the van.”
    “Oh. I’m glad to hear that.”
    “I can also tell you that one of the men you fought off in the shop on Kabasakal is dead from a wound to his head.”
    “Good.”
    “We interrogated the wounded man and believe he is a member of Shabiha. These men are paid assassins working for President Assad in Syria.”
    Crocker wasn’t surprised. “I’ve heard about them, yes.”
    It made sense. Jared had been in Syria helping the FSA rebels who were trying to destroy the Assad government.
    “We are very sorry for your trouble, and apologize deeply.”
    “If you need me to identify anyone, or to provide you with further details, I’m happy to comply.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Wallace,” said Colonel Oz. “Now, please, so we don’t waste your time, let’s talk about the situation inside Syria and answer your questions.”
    “Yes.”
    He pointed to another man at the table. “Mr. Asani here is our director of intelligence for Idlib province. His English isn’t very good, so he submitted this report.”
    Colonel Oz proceeded to read it, and Crocker took notes.
      
    Three hours later, when Crocker returned to the hotel, his brain was so fried he couldn’t think. He passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow and woke up two hours later. Although his body begged for more rest, his mind had rebooted and was eager to process the information it had received.
    With shadows dancing across the ceiling and rain splattering against the windows, he reviewed what he had learned from MiT officials. The battle of Idlib had started in March 2010, when elements of the FSA—mostly Sunni defectors from the Syrian Army—seized control of the city. Several weeks later, the Syrian Army fought back, launching a ferocious artillery and air assault that dislodged the rebels from some neighborhoods and sent civilians fleeing toward the Turkish border.
    The city had been a military battlefield since, with the Syrian Army controlling the center and east of the city, and periodic attacks, counterattacks, and street-to-street fighting by the rebels who occupied the north and west. While rebel groups also held most of the territory and towns around the city, their ability to retake all of Idlib was severely compromised by the infighting among them.
    Mr. Asani likened the current situation to gang warfare. “Alliances shift almost daily. The different militias squabble like teenage girls but mainly disagree about two things: the presence of foreign fighters or jihadists, and the future of Syria.”
    The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were the most militant