In an interview with the Anadolu Agency, President Khoja said that the increasingly weakened Assad regime began a desperate attempt to draw the borders of his mini-state to stay in power. “The Assad regime has handed over areas to terrorist organizations in northern and eastern Syria, while other regions in central Syrian were given to the Iranians. Assad also withdrew heavy military equipment from many locations, while his forces in the south retreated to the Damascus area and, coastal region and some parts of Homs and Hama.”
Khoja points out that the Assad regime is trying to delude the international community that the alternative if it falls will be ISIS. “Assad, backed by Russia, is using ISIS as a bargaining chip to put pressure on the international community.”
Khoja referred to Turkey’s recent revelation of a secret agreement between Assad and ISIS which agreed to fight rebels in Aleppo instead of fighting the Assad regime. In another agreement signed by the Assad regime and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (YPD), the former agreed to hand over the northern border area to the latter after it supplied it with heavy weapons.
Khoja stresses that the transitional period should include all spectrums of the Syrian society and guarantee their rights, pointing out that the Kurdish National Council is an essential component of the Syrian Coalition. He also said that the YPD is acting on its own and does not represent all Kurds in Syria.
“The Assad regime is trying to move negotiations from Geneva to Moscow in order to give it legitimacy. The latest Moscow talks failed because the Syrian Coalition decided not to attend it. While the Syrian Coalition will not accept any amendment to the Geneva Communique, the political solution in Syria must be based on this communiqué and on the relevant international laws.”
Khoja concluded his remarks saying that “over the last four months we did not see signs that Al-Nusra Front is trying to impose its rule the way ISIS does because most of the rebel factions in Idlib adopt a policy that is contrary to Al Nusra Front’s policy. He added that Al Nusra’s presence is limited to Idlib province as it barely has 300 fighters in Aleppo. “However, the Syrian Coalition still considers Al Nusra Front a terrorist organization as long as it does not dissociate itself from al-Qaeda, but rebels factions sometimes have to ally with other parties in fighting the Assad regime. This happens as limited tactical plans and these factions are not affiliated with Al Nusra whatsoever.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
