In an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper published today, President Khoja said that Turkey’s stepping in to fight ISIS, a move that has gained popular, regional and international support, is an important turning point in favor of the Syrian revolution.
Khoja stresses that clearing north of ISIS and the terrorist groups will readjust the situation in this area in favor of the revolutionary and national forces which operate under the umbrella of the Syrian Coalition or coordinate with it. The FSA High Military Command and the local councils represent these forces. Turkey’s move will ensure restoring the situation in the north to what it looked like before ISIS took control of the liberated areas in the north.
“The efforts initiated by the Syrian Coalition to set up a High Military Command are aimed at the creation of a national army that is neutral towards Syrian components and whose main job is defending Syria but not managing it. It will begin with liberated areas that are now expanding in conjunction with the decline of ISIS and the Assad regime with the start of the military operation against terrorism in the north. Meanwhile, civil administration will be formed through the local councils already in place,” Khoja said.
Commenting on Assad’s latest speech, Khoja said that Assad presented a new menacing definition of citizenship when he said that the homeland is not for those who live in it or hold its nationality or passport, but for those who defend it. He obviously wants to pave the way for the division of the country and the resettlement of mercenary militias fighting alongside his forces.
“While Assad indirectly admitted his defeat, he is justifying foreign occupation of the homeland after the depletion of his regime’s resources in the battle against a people who are determined to regain freedom.”
“Assad’s plan to build a sectarian entity run by Iran and its militias, whether in Damascus or the Syrian coast is doomed to fail. Damascus, the oldest inhabited capital in the world, and the second capital of the Islamic civilization, is immune to the sectarian cleansing the Assad regime is carrying out in the neighborhoods of Mezzah, Sayeda Zeinab and other Damascus suburbs.
“Assad’s sectarian project aimed at expelling millions of Damascenes as well as the internally displaced people who take refuge at the Syrian coast and replacing them with millions of strangers fraught with sectarian hatred, fighting for Iranian expansionist ambitions, is impossible to achieve in an area that it is home to one of the oldest civilizations of the world.”
President Khoja concluded his remarks stressing that the intra-opposition dialogue aimed at reaching a unified visions on the post-Assad era will go forward and will include societal and political components to move from the leadership of the revolution stage to a management stage. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
