Syrian Coalition: Assassination of Ahrar al-Sham Top Commanders Aims to Silence the Voice of Moderation

Nasr al-Hariri, Secretary General of the Syrian Coalition, said that the assassination of the senior military and political leaders of the Ahrar al-Sham movement “aims to perpetuate extremism and silence the voices that sought to achieve national consensus among the rebel factions. The targeted leaders were among the first to sign the revolutionary charter of honor, a major landmark in the course of the Syrian revolution. It is no secret that Bashar al-Assad and extremists are the sole beneficiaries of this heinous crime, as the voices calling for moderation and national consensus do not fit the policy of sectarian provocation pursued by the Assad regime and extremists. Furthermore, the only explanation why the Assad regime has been refraining from targeting ISIS is that this extremist organization has specific tasks to perform and it will cease to exist once these tasks are performed. It has become clear that such extremist organizations do not constitute a threat to the dictatorial regimes. On the contrary, despot rulers allow these extremist organizations to grow and flourish to present them as the only alternative to their dictatorial regimes.” Hariri stresses that the Assad regime’s restricting of its war effort to fight the FSA and other moderate rebel faction’s lies in that all of them are the product of the Syrian Revolution and represent the people’s voice. Despite the enormity of the loss, the Syrian Revolution will surely give birth to more determined and judicious leaders who will follow the path set forth by the fallen heroes. Assad has not yet realized that what is going on in Syria is not a revolution of certain figures, and insists on ignoring the fact that it is a popular uprising that cannot be quelled even if he resorted to using all weapons at his disposal. Although the Syrian people lost many prominent leaders, most notably Ahmad al-Khalaf, Abu Furat, Abdul Qader Al Saleh and Yasser Abboud, the revolution will go on and we will forever be indebted to the fallen heroes. The nation that gave birth to such great leaders will not fail to come up with new ones who will lead the Syrian people in their quest for freedom and justice.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)