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JABAL AL-ZAWIYA, Syria — At the Free Syrian Army base here, agroup of men led a nervous prisoner from his cell to a car waitingoutside. A few hours later, the rebels returned alone, with atrunkload of weapons. As they loaded the store room with new bullets and rocket-propelledgrenades, Hamza Fatahallah, an army defector who joined the FreeSyrian Army nine months ago, described the transaction that hadtaken place. "We have caught many army prisoners," he said."We send them back home for a small amount of money on thecondition they do not return to the regime. We use the money to buyweapons." For the release of this prisoner, Ahmed Haseeba, the group received$500. With this money, Fatahallah said they were able to buyammunition from their main supplier: Syria"s national army,also known as the enemy. More from GlobalPost inside Syria: Video: Bloodshed mocks UN peace plan This strange cycle of exchanging prisoners for weapons has beenplaying out between rebel forces and President Basharal-Assad"s army since the beginning of the revolution. Fatahallah estimated that his village purchased 40 percent of theirweapons from the regime. Prisoner exchanges have so far contributedalmost $80,000 toward weapons purchases, he said. And they obtainan additional 50 percent of their weapons during battle. Theremaining 10 percent are donated and smuggled from outside thecountry, or are purchased from private merchants, mostly from Iraq. Occasionally, prisoners are also exchanged directly for weapons,Fatahallah said. They have received up to two Kalashnikov rifles inexchange for a prisoner in the past. For the regime, or at least the duplicitous members of it,supplying the enemy is a big business. Government officers alsosell Kalashnikov bullets, which typically sold for less than 40cents before the uprising, for about $4 each, according to Ahmed AlSheikh, the leader of the armed opposition in Jabal al-Zawiya. Heleads about 6,000 men from eight battalions that are collectivelyknown as the Sham Falcons. Kalashnikovs are bought for about $1,000, he said. Rocket-propelledgrenade launchers, complete with a set of four rockets, cost up to$4,000, as does a BKT machine gun. "These officers sell to us not because they love therevolution but because they love money," Al Sheikh said ofhis chain of suppliers. "Their loyalty is to their pocketsonly, not the regime." More from GlobalPost inside Syria: Syria's walking wounded While most of the sellers are corrupt officers, they said lowerranking soldiers have occasionally stolen supplies from governmentweapons storage and sold them to the rebel forces. The relationship is not always a smooth one. Back at the base, the men were relaxing after lunch when a loudexplosion shocked everyone to their feet. As they feared, theprevious night"s purchase of Kalashnikov bullets had beenbooby-trapped. This time their colleagues were lucky enough tosurvive the discovery. The men had learned from prior experience — bullets acquiredfrom the regime are sometimes emptied of their gunpowder and filledwith TNT designed to destroy the Kalashnikov and its owner, ratherthan the enemy. After several injuries and the loss of two rifles, the men hadlearned to spot the fakes. To everyone"s relief this had beena controlled explosion, by someone suspicious of the new batch. Thedamage inflicted was only a blackened hand, some singed hair and ahole in the table. "These ones here are good bullets," said battalionleader Asad Ibrahim, showing the red marking on the base of one ofthe bullets. Holding up another with a slightly darker redoff-center mark he said, "These are Bashar"s bullets toexplode our guns." The men said bullets like these have destroyed many guns and killedor seriously injured several of their fellow fighters. Butdesperate for ammunition, they take the risk. More from GlobalPost inside Syria: Chaos prevails as both sides blatantly ignore UN peace plan Commander Al Sheikh said that half of the Sham Falcon arsenal areseized from the enemy. Most are taken either during battle, orafter attacks on government checkpoints. And the rebels carry outorganized raids on government weapon stores whenever they can. During an attack on a checkpoint in Mughara last week, Al Sheikhproudly boasted that his men had managed a rare grab: a T62 tankalong with anti-aircraft weapons. Another source of arms is from the army defectors themselves, whobring their own weapons along when they join the rebel forces. Sitting at the base, the men laughed as they recalled the story oftwo friends, both defectors, who told their superior they neededone of the gun-mounted vehicles and some heavy weapons to check ona call regarding rebel activity. Loading the truck with as muchammunition and weapons as they could find, they drove straighttoward the rebels, checking in by radio with their boss withstories of hunting down "rebel traitors" hours afterthey had already betrayed sides. While the Free Syrian Army has been adept at obtaining weapons, ithas also proven skillful in manufacturing their own. In a secret warehouse across town from the base, fertilizer andsugar were being boiled in a large pot. Everything from teapots tolarge metal pipes were being filled to make roadside bombs forattacks on tanks and army vehicles. 23mm bullet casings were filledwith explosives with a small wick on top, looking more like an ACMEspecial from a Loony Tunes cartoon than a deadly hand grenade. "We are using very simple weapons against the highly sophisticatedweapons of the regime — tanks, rockets, missiles. What agovernment! What a regime. Doing nothing but killing theirpeople," Fatahallah said during a tour of the busy workshop. The men from the battalion spoke constantly of the need, not formilitary intervention from abroad, but for international help inobtaining more weapons. But with or without this support, theyvowed to continue the fight until Assad is removed. "The Quran says to prepare whatever weapons you can to fightyour enemy," said Al Sheikh, the commander, as his localleaders discussed preparations for their next mission. "Even if no weapons are available and all we have left to useare stones, we will go on with our revolution until Assadfalls." This story was originally published by GlobalPost. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Beverage Mixer , Filling and Sealing Machine, and more. 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