Lebanese leader and head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, hinted at the responsibility of the Assad regime for the bloody attack and bombings that the ISIS extremist group carried out in the province of Swaida on Wednesday. He said that the attack followed rejection of the province’s top religious leaders, known as the Karama Sheikhs’ of attempts by the regime to recruit people of the province to fight alongside its forces.
In comments he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Jumblatt raised questions as to how ISIS militants managed to reach Swaida after Assad regime announced that its ‘brave army’ eliminated the ISIS threat.
“How is it a crime that the Karama Sheikhs refused to volunteer in Assad’s army to fight against their brethren, the Syrian people?”
“The question which begs an answer is how ISIS militants managed to get to Swaida and its outskirts this fast and committed their crimes before the people of the city had the chance to defend their land and honor?”
Jumblatt went on: “Has not the brave regime claimed that the ISIS threat is over following the battle of eastern Ghouta?
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Syrian Coalition emphasized the responsibility of the Assad regime’s forces for enabling ISIS to carry out such criminal operations in view of the ability of the attackers to travel long distances and bypass several regime checkpoints to reach Swaida and commit this horrific crime.
President of the Syrian Coalition, Abdurrahman Mustafa, offered condolences to the families of the victims of ISIS bloody attack in Swaida. He stressed that this massacre bears the signature of the terrorist Bashar al-Assad or one of his allies. Mustafa saluted the free people of Swaida, describing them as “embers of freedom simmering under the ashes of repression and tyranny.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)