APTOPIX Mideast Syria Rebels

In this Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 photo, Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, 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)