Syrian Coalition: Eid is Full of Sadness without Your Joy

Hadi al-Bahra, president of the Syrian Coalition, said that “today, Eid is full of sadness today after oppression and darkness gripped our homeland,” in a speech directed to the Syrian people. “Syrians, who sustain insatiable love for their homeland, the dearest and the purest place on earth, have been beleaguered by a regime that has wasted everything away, wasted the sovereignty of this nation away by summoning foreigners from everywhere and planting the culture of killing and slaughter in our land. The Assad regime has left Syrians with two choices: tyranny or extremism. Syrians have said no to both.” Bahra stresses that “Syrians have been fighting against Assad and ISIS with valor and determination unmatched in the history of mankind. Tyranny and extremism for the Syrian people are unfamiliar to their culture and way of life. Syrians have experienced the threat of extremism since the early days of the revolution. Though they have repeatedly alerted the world of this threat, they, alone have been left to fight it, fully aware that their struggle for freedom is the only hope for the demise of the regime and the end of extremism.” Furthermore, Bahra points out that “our homeland is going through tough and decisive developments as the Assad regime has destroyed the infrastructure of Syria and thrown away its sovereignty, rendering Syria an open and borderless land. The most recent chapter of chaos, violence and terrorism planted by Assad in our land was the death of children in the neighborhood of Ekremah in Homs who are now equal to their peers; the children of Dara’a, Aleppo, East Ghouta. Banias, Baida and Hula. The terrorism that is now besieging the town of Ayn al-Arab (Kobanî), and threatens its residents, does not differ from the terrorism that is besieging East Ghouta, Aleppo and Al Waer district near Homs. Terrorism is one, even though it has various shapes and colors. We in the Syrian Coalition promise to live up to our work and close our ranks, and that no one of us is above the law or accountability. We represent you and we draw our legitimacy only from you, and we promise to be faithful guardians of the goals of the revolution in order to regain our constitutional and humanitarian rights. We also reaffirm our pledge that our effort will be in accordance with the interests of our people and our homeland. We are going through the most important stage in the history of Syria, and a window of hope has opened where we should invest with responsibility and statesmanship. We have been given an opportunity to achieve the aspirations of our people and to shorten the time and reduce the sacrifices necessary to achieve our goals. Your support of what we are doing is the source of our strength. Let your voice be heard, widely and loudly. Syrians are capable, through unity and their love of their homeland, of protecting their country, freedom and independence, and are also able to build a free and democratic state, a state of all citizens without discrimination, distinction or exclusion. (Source: Syrian Coalition)