Press conference
Syrian Coalition
Thursday, July 4, 2019
We salute our great Syrian people.
We salute the fallen heroes of the Syrian Revolution.
We salute the detainees everywhere in Syria.
We salute our rebellious people everywhere.
We salute the internally displaced, the refugees, and the forcibly displaced in everywhere, especially those in the refugee camps in Lebanon who are being subjected to growing hostility and hate speech, which does not fit with the image of Lebanon as country of freedom and culture or the special relationship between the Syrian and Lebanese peoples.
We salute the heroes of the armed opposition (the National Army and the National Liberation Front) who are putting up epic resistance in Idlib, rural Hama and rural Lattakia. Although the Assad regime has recently deployed the remaining of its elite troops supported by the Russian occupation air force, it has failed miserably.
We salute you from the beloved land of Syria.
We are fully aware of the responsibility we have taken on.
We have to work day and night so that the Coalition will be the institution that expresses the values and goals of our great revolution and which represents the aspirations of our people.
Our top priority is to ensure the success of the Syrian Interim Government as our rebel fighters are capable of managing the country.
We are well aware that the political performance of the majority of the official institutions of the revolution did not live up to the expectations. Indeed, it is very difficult for any performance to match the level of the tremendous sacrifices our people are making. However, we will avidly seek to preserve the gains and achieve the goals for which we have risen up.
We did not come today to ask for authorization or confidence, but to build the real legitimacy of the Coalition and gain your confidence through hard work and the achievement of the desired results.
The Coalition has been recognized by more than 100 countries. This is a great international legitimacy that we have gained thanks to the sacrifices of the Syrian people. However, the real legitimacy we seek is the legitimacy of the Syrian street.
We have developed clear programs and plans of action with the aim of the internal reform of the Coalition so that it lives up to the performance and discourse you are expecting and gains the real legitimacy that will make us able to make difficult decisions and commit to the revolution’s principles.
Once the performance – legitimacy binary is materialized, it will reflect strongly on the performance of other institutions, especially the Syrian Interim Government which must be a real alternative to the government of the crumpling regime and a real partner with our people and the allies of our revolution in building a good model of a successful civil administration.
We are fully aware of the daily problems facing our people in the liberated areas and the existing security challenges. We will address all of these.
The Assad regime has collapsed under the blows of our heroes. We firmly reject any defeatist speech and acquiescence under the so-called “political realism.” Your immense sacrifices will allow us to up the ante.
The Assad regime has been defeated once and for all. Now it is in the process of economic, social and security meltdown after it was defeated militarily and lost its legitimacy. We will work to improve the political performance of the opposition to reflect this fact.
We will strive to gain the confidence of our rebel fighters and gain the honor of conveying their voice and vision of the world. We are at their service and support their struggle. The battle of Idlib proved that the solution in Syria remains a political – military one and that the role of our rebel groups remains vital now and in the future.
We are fully aware of the mistakes of the past. We will work hard to correct them both at the level of performance and management by making the right decisions.
I promise we will make every effort to make the Coalition the political front that our great revolution and our heroic people deserve. I also promise that the Syrian Interim Government will spare no effort to provide services and improve the security.
The institutions of the revolution include many who are genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of our country and the revolution and who are looking for an opportunity to correct the path. We will work to empower those personalities and to attract their likes.
The Coalition is your institution, and we will work to emerge from the inside of Syria with all sincerity, hopes, suffering, orientations and ceiling.
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