Amman — Beirut — Istanbul
I recently bumped into a senior officer with the rebel Free Syrian Army who was waiting in the passport queue at the Turkish border. I didn’t recognise him at first, out of uniform and without his entourage, and I told him so. He was following the example of the 7th-century Second Caliph, Omar bin al Khattab, he replied.
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Paul Wood is a BBC correspondent covering Syria.
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![Kurdish politician Hervin Khalaf, who was apparently pulled from her car and executed last week by Turkish-backed paramilitaries [Photo: Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Paul_Wood.jpg?w=620)
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