"Now we wish the mukhabarat had taken them & not the Syrian Free Army"

[NYRB] Aleppo: How Syria Is Being Destroyed

"...Five or six friends at work were waiting for the regime to finish. They said they will celebrate in Saadallah Jabri Square. In the last month, they changed their minds. One has a Ph.D. in agriculture. He was totally against the regime. He said we’ll celebrate its fall. Then he came to me and said the Free Army came to his area and destroyed his house. They kidnapped four of his cousins. He told me the whole story. Now we wish the mukhabarat had taken them and not the Free Army. That is the big change. ..."