Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition – Syria
Department of Media and Communications
October 15, 2020
Treacherous hands on Wednesday assassinated former commander in the Free Syrian Army, Adham al-Akrad along with four of his comrades who two years ago were forced to conclude so-called reconciliation agreements with the Assad regime under Russian guarantees in Dara’a province.
We hold the Assad regime and the Hezbollah militia fully responsible for this heinous crime and all other crimes targeting former FSA members in southern Syria. We also hold the Russian guarantor legal, political and moral responsibility for its failure to honor its promises and guarantees.
The mass forced displacement, repeated arrests and hundreds of assassinations have proved the serious dangers of falling for the deceptive Russian calls for the so-called reconciliation agreements and settlements with the treacherous Assad regime.
These agreements and settlements were nothing but a ruse to help the Assad regime retake control of the liberated areas. The Russian guarantor did not make any effort to rein in the Assad regime’s atrocious crimes, especially murder, detention, and mass forced displacement. Russia also did not fulfill any of its international commitments to prevent Iran from seeking to expand its influence in southern Syria, nor did it make any effort to confront Iran’s attempts to sow discord amongst the people of southern Syria.
These assassinations are yet a new proof of Russia’s failure to honor its promises and guarantees. They nonetheless represent an opportunity for our people in Syria’s south to reconsider their position towards the so-called reconciliation agreements and rise up against the Assad regime forces and their allied foreign militias.