ABC interviews a group of Libyans tied with former jihadist Belhadj, who have traveled to Syria to "evaluate" the means of support for the insurgency

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Syrian Liberation Army fighters teach their old State Security cards to show that they are "not terrorists"
Brahim, the militiaman, is concerned. "There is an army checkpoint at the entrance of the road," says the farmer, meaning that Jabal Zawiya exit routes are cut. We feared something like this, so the few foreign reporters have decided to leave Syria, considering the risk of being trapped there. But it seems that we arrived late. Finally, when it is dark, Brahim finds a solution. He mobilizes three cars that, driven in the dark, try to find an alternative route. After hours of waiting, they manage to make us cross enemy lines through another point. Brahim laughs, happy "The Free Syrian Army has found a way out," he says.

The convoy takes us to a farmhouse where we expect another group to be evacuated with us. And then comes the surprise: they are three Libyans who, in their own words, have come not to fight, but "to assess the needs of the Syrian revolutionary brothers." The Libyans did not attempt to hide their identities. They are men close to Abdelhakim Belhadj, current military governor of Tripoli and former jihadist, linked to al-Qaida in the past.

One of them turns out to be an old acquaintance of the reporters who covered the war in Libya: Mehdi al-Hatari, the former commander of the Tripoli Brigade, which played a key role in taking the capital and the fall of Gaddafi. The second, Adem Kikli, says he works for Belhadj, and has been in exile in the UK for almost two decades. The third, Fuad, seems to be a bodyguard. "We are here on our own personal initiative and not by order of anyone," says Adem. He emphasizes that Harati publicly resigned his post in Tripoli on October 11. Adem also claims he has been with other Libyans - "a few dozen" - who have moved to Syria on their own to help the insurgents.

There's no doubt Hatari is a man of action. The character came to the fore after his participation in the Gaza flotilla in the spring of 2010. "I was wounded in the assault on the Mavi Marmara, and spent nine days in a prison in Tel Aviv," he says. In February, Harati, who lives in Dublin and has an Irish passport, said goodbye to his wife and son and, along with other Libyan exiles in Ireland, went to Libya. There he created the Tripoli Brigade, a group of elite fighters trained by advisers from Qatar, who fought fiercely in the final battle for the capital.

ABC has also confirmed his recent visit to places like Bahrain, Sudan and Ankara, with undeclared purposes. Recently, Harati was involved in a bizarre episode, when, by his own account, a band of thieves raided his home, taking plenty of jewelry and 200,000 pounds (238,000 euros). Harati told the police that a large amount of money had been given to him by an agent of the CIA to finance his group's struggle against Gaddafi. The fighter left those 200,000 pounds to his wife, in case anything happened to him, and took the rest of it to Libya.

As we fled to the border, Libyans are giving us some clues about their presence in Syria. "If we were to choose, we would send weapons to the Syrian tomorrow. We no longer need them," Harati explains. "But they would have to enter through Turkey, and the Turks cannot authorize that because there is no consensus within NATO," he says. And at the border, the three Libyans say they are returning to their homeland. That, they guarantee.