In this Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 photo, Syrian rebels prepare to make bombs to be used against government forces, at their post in Maaret Misreen, near Idlib, Syria. The new Syrian rebel chief, a defected army general who spent months in exile, says he has begun operating inside Syria to unite autonomous anti-regime militias for what he hopes will be the final push against President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Syrian rebels step up attacks on strategic sites
In this Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 photo, Syrian rebels prepare to make bombs to be used against government forces, at their post in Maaret Misreen, near Idlib, Syria. The new Syrian rebel chief, a defected army general who spent months in exile, says he has begun operating inside Syria to unite autonomous anti-regime militias for what he hopes will be the final push against President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
By BEN HUBBARD
Associated Press /
December 22, 2012
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‘‘It shook the house and my kids came running in saying, ‘Daddy, daddy!'’’ he said. ‘‘They were terrified.’’
Al-Hassan said the missile fell in a field, causing no casualties.
Videos purporting to show the impact site showed a crater some six meters (yards) deep in a green field. They appeared genuine and corresponded with other AP reporting on the incident.
Also Friday, a prominent news anchor from Syrian state TV said he had defected after being repeatedly interrogated by the country’s intelligence services.
Speaking from an undisclosed location outside of Syria, Ahmad Fakhouri told Al-Arabiya TV that he'd fled the country eight months ago with rebel help.
‘‘I look forward for the day when Syria will be free and I can return to my country to do my job,’’ he said.
Syrian TV’s head office in Damascus told The Associated Press that Fakhouri had left the station to work for state-run radio.
An official at the radio station said Fakhouri was on vacation.
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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Vladimir Isachenkov in Brussels contributed reporting.
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