Syrian Coalition Works to Absorb New Rebel Battalions Within the FSA

Hadi Al Bahra, president of the Syrian Coalition, continued to hold meetings with leaders of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council (SMC) and commanders of the rebel battalions. “With the fast-pace developments in Syria and the region, it has become imperative that new battalions join the SMC, we have therefore begun studying the absorption of the active rebel battalions within the SMC as a step towards organizing the military efforts under one banner to counter to the growing threat of extremist groups. It has become clear that Assad will not be forced to sit at the negotiating table unless the military situation on the ground is changed in favor of the revolutionary forces, a thing that can only be achieved through organizing the rebel factions into a unified body,” Al Bahra said. He also stresses that “the plan we are seeking to implement has a name: Syria, and we will go through with it regardless of the internal and external political fluctuations. Therefore, we have initiated reforms to completely restructure the interim government and the SMC. Over the past two days, we met with all ministers in the interim government to review their achievements and know difficulties they are facing, thus identifying the flaws and deficiencies in the performance of those two bodies.” During his meeting with commanders of the SMC, Al Bahra said that it has become necessary to move to work inside Syria side by side with the people as this is the only way to bridge the gap between the revolutionary forces in and outside Syria. We should also emphasize on the institutional and technocratic work during the restructuring of the interim government. Bahra stressed that the technocratic institutional work should govern the structure of the interim government, pointing out that the selection of human resources should depend on experience and competence, and that the cadres that previously worked in the institutions of the Assad regime should not be marginalized.“ (Source: Syrian Coalition)