The rebel force that is close to winning the conflict in Syria, is affiliated with ISIS, thus another totalitarian regime and more murderous than Assad's.
They are a salad of competing ideologies... With oppressive Turkey pushing at least one Islamist group.
We shall see. Meantime, non-Islamic FSA rebels went on a blitz campaign to calm Israelis...
Syrian rebel commander urges Israel to support uprising, strike Iran-backed forces
In interview with ToI, a Free Syrian Army officer expresses hope for friendly relations with Jewish state, warns of Iranian militias propping up Assad: ‘They will come for Israel, too.’
By Gianluca Pacchiani.
December 6, 2024.
For over a week, insurgents have been battling Syrian regime forces and their allies in a lightning uprising, taking control of Aleppo and Hama, respectively the country’s second and fourth largest city, and pushing toward Homs, a key crossroads city linking the capital Damascus to Assad’s coastal heartlands.
The assault has registered unexpected advances as it engendered a “domino effect,” according to a Syrian journalist based in Aleppo who spoke to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, as contingents loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad retreated one after the other upon hearing of the insurgents’ first achievements.
Pro-government forces backed by intense Russian airstrikes have been trying to halt the insurgents’ advance, but Assad is now in dire straits, as his traditional allies Moscow and Tehran are mired in conflicts of their own, while the Shiite terror group Hezbollah, which assisted him in staving off the civil war and allowed him to maintain his grip on power, has been decimated by the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon.
This week, The Times of Israel spoke with a rebel commander from the Free Syrian Army, a secular coalition of opposition forces founded by mainly Sunni defectors from the Syrian military at the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.
Its primary goal is to organize resistance against the Assad regime. Over a decade ago, the group positioned itself as a moderate alternative to more extremist factions, advocating for a democratic and secular Syria.
The FSA gained international attention at the outbreak of the civil war by taking control of significant territories in northern Syria, including parts of Aleppo. At the time it was seen as the primary opposition force against Assad. It began receiving arms and aid from Western and Gulf countries, including the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but over time, Turkey became its main backer.
However, as ISIS and other jihadist groups gained prominence, the FSA struggled to maintain relevance and became embroiled in clashes with other rebel factions. In recent years, the FSA has morphed into a loose coalition of various factions with differing ideologies, leading to challenges in maintaining cohesion and a unified command structure.
The commander interviewed by The Times of Israel participated in the recent seizure of Aleppo and his troops are now fighting government forces, Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in the area, and pushing south.
The rebel leader, in his early 60s, agreed to be interviewed by phone on condition of anonymity and spoke of the objectives of the ongoing campaign, his vision for the future of Syria and relations with Israel, and the role the Jewish state can play, in his view, in support of the rebels.
The interview was lightly edited for clarity and concision. The figures given by the commander could not be independently verified.
The Times of Israel:
How have the rebels been received by the civilian population in Aleppo after they chased out pro-Assad and Iran-backed forces?
Free Syrian Army officer:
People are very grateful to the fighters because they are their brothers and family members. Many of the fighters are Aleppo natives who fought the Assad regime in the civil war, and then fled to Idlib [a city in north-western Syria under rebel control] and vowed to return. Now they are coming home.
The Iranian militias and Hezbollah, which made up 90-95% of the forces controlling Aleppo, have no relation to Syria. Now they have left Aleppo, and unlike us, they cannot say they will one day return. This is not their home.
(TOI)
While the Free Syrian Army in which you fight is a secular militia, concern has been voiced that the uprising is being spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadi organization. How do you respond to those concerns?
[HTS is an Islamist group that was born out of the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. Its leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani has indicated his intention to impose sharia law over Syria, and has expressed support for Hamas’s brutal onslaught on October 7, 2023. However, the group has never directly threatened Israel. It distanced itself from Al Qaeda in 2016 and rebranded itself as more moderate to the outside world, but the UN has denounced human rights violations by HTS in areas it controls in Idlib province. While the US has put a $10 million bounty on al-Julani’s head, James Jeffrey, a former US diplomat in the region, said in 2021 that Julani was “the least bad option of the various options on Idlib.”]
(FSA)
The Syrian and Iranian regimes and the enemies of the Syrian revolution have tried to portray the Syrian uprising in the past as a terrorist movement born out of Al Qaeda. They have tried to demonize us, but our only motive is nationalistic.
In the end, once the Assad regime is toppled, HTS will be pressured to move away from its fundamentalist ideology and move to the political center, in the interest of Syria.
‘Extremism in Syria is a foreign import – and we as Syrians don’t want foreign interference in our country’.
HTS has about 10-15,000 fighters, but in total there are hundreds of thousands of fighters. We have a unified command and they are all fighting together, and HTS is part of the equation on the ground. Every Syrian is part of this battle.
In the past, we have fought ISIS and defeated it. Extremism in Syria is a foreign import – and we as Syrians don’t want foreign interference in our country.
We are open to friendship with everyone in the region – including Israel. We don’t have enemies other than the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran. What Israel did against Hezbollah in Lebanon helped us a great deal. Now we are taking care of the rest.
(TOI)
What is your relation with Turkey and what can you say about attacks by other rebel factions against Kurds, apparently under Turkish orders?
[One of the groups leading this uprising is the Syrian National Army (SNA), which is funded, armed and trained by Ankara. Turkey has long been embroiled in a conflict against Kurds, both against separatists inside its borders and against Kurdish forces backed by the US in Syria, and the SNA has been described as Turkey’s “mercenaries” in this fight. In the ongoing offensive, the SNA has directly targeted Kurdish forces, and according to some Arab reports, also Kurdish civilians. Videos have emerged of Kurdish women, possibly female fighters, being abducted by rebels.]
(FSA)
We [the Free Syrian Army] are not allied with Turkey and are not fighting the Kurds, our only allies are the people of Syria. We have good relations with the Turks but we don’t take orders from them, we are independent.
‘We [the Free Syrian Army] are not allied with Turkey and are not fighting the Kurds, our only allies are the people of Syria’
We consider the Kurds to be a full-fledged component of Syrian society, we have been living alongside them forever. However, there are two points of disagreement between us and them: We do not agree with their plan to secede from Syria and fragment it by creating their own state, and we do not agree with their reliance on foreign support [i.e. the US] and promotion of a foreign agenda.
We know that Kurds have relations with Israel, and Israel cares about the Kurds. Once Syria is liberated, their rights as citizens will be respected, and we are willing to sit at a table and finalize an agreement with them. If Israel wishes, it can be an observer in negotiations.
[Israel has long entertained relations under the table with Kurds around the Middle East, particularly with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Last month, newly-minted Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called for boosting ties with Kurds as they are Israel’s “natural ally,” and called Kurds “a great nation.”]
(TOI)
Should the insurgents achieve their goal of toppling the Assad regime, how do you envision future relations between Syria and Israel?
(FSA)
We will go for full peace with Israel, we will live side by side as neighbors. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, we have never made any critical comments against Israel, unlike Hezbollah, who stated they aim to liberate Jerusalem and the Golan Heights [which Israel took from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967 and annexed]. Our only focus is to get rid of Assad and the Iranian militias.
Hopefully, we will coexist in harmony and we will transform this region and take it from a state of war into a state of economic progress, perhaps with Israeli and American aid for reconstruction. We will take it on a different path than Iran and Hezbollah.
‘The day Assad falls, we will reverse the disintegration of Syria, and we will turn the Syrian state into a democratic one’.
The day Assad falls, we will reverse the disintegration of Syria, and we will turn the Syrian state into a democratic one. Our clear objective is to liberate and reconstruct our country and ensure that all ethnic and religious groups can coexist.
What is the Israeli interest in maintaining Bashar al-Assad in power, after he threatened Israel’s security by allowing Iran and Hezbollah to encroach on Israel’s borders? Does Israel think that it can live next to a disintegrated country plagued by chaos? If so, Israel should expect rockets launched against it within a few months.
(TOI)
Are you in contact with any Israeli officials?
(FSA)
No comment.
I will only say that we are thankful to Israel for its strikes against Hezbollah and against the Iranian infrastructure in Syria, and we hope that after the fall of Assad, Israel will plant a rose in the Syrian garden and will support the Syrian people, for the benefit of the region. Syrian citizens are the ones who will remain on Israel’s borders. Not Bashar al-Assad and not the Iranians.
(TOI)
Do you believe Israel should offer material support to the insurgents?
We have enough fighters on the ground. What we need from Israel is a clear political stance against the Assad regime [i.e. in support for the rebels]. We need a political signal to build trust with the Syrian people.
Israel should not sit back and watch, and think that this won’t affect it. Iran is now sending fighters from Iraq in support of Assad. [On Monday, Reuters reported that hundreds of Iraqi fighters from Iran-backed militias crossed into Syria to help Assad fight insurgents.] We will confront any opponent with all our capabilities, but Israelis should beware that these forces are not coming only for us, they are also coming for you.
Israel should consider striking forces backed by Iran wherever it sees them. We are trying to block them on the roads and ambush them, but Israel should also act from the air.
[While Israeli officials have not expressed their support for the insurgents or their intention to intervene in the latest iteration of the civil war, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Monday that the IDF would ensure Iran does not smuggle weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon as the Islamic Republic sends reinforcements to its ally Assad.]
(TOI)
Given the rebels’ swift advances on the ground, are you aiming to reach Damascus soon?
I cannot say when, but the celebration cannot be complete without the capital of Syria.
In interview with ToI, a Free Syrian Army officer expresses hope for friendly relations with Jewish state, warns of Iranian militias propping up Assad: 'They will come for Israel, too'
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