We will not reconcile!!! The speech of HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani
On 2 January 2023, the leader of the Islamist rebel organization Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, “Organization for the Liberation of the Levant”, in Syria, appeared in a 4-minute video message to disseminate the organisation’s position on the recent widespread reports about the possibility of normalization and reconciliation agreements between the Turks and Syria with the partnership of Russia.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and MIT chief Hakan Fidan met with Syrian Defence Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk in Moscow together with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Turkish, Russian and Syrian sides agreed to continue trilateral meetings. The Defence Minister of the Syrian regime stated that it was a positive meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced in recent weeks that he had proposed to Vladimir Putin to form a trilateral mechanism with Russia and Syria to accelerate diplomacy between Ankara and Damascus. He also said he would like to meet with Syrian regime President Bashar al-Assad in the future, explaining that Putin saw this proposal as positive, confirming the forthcoming start of a series of negotiations.
The first Turkish-Syrian talks in Moscow were friendly according to their respective statements, but no agreement was reached other than to continue talking to each other.
Syria seems to have demanded that Turkey designate all Syrian rebel groups as terrorists, something the Turks did not like, while the Turks reportedly asked the regime to take action against Syrian Kurdish groups, a request that Damascus reluctantly accepted.
Damascus has also reportedly demanded that Turkey immediately withdraw from Syrian territory as a precondition for the start of official talks, a precondition that Russia itself seems to oppose.
Dozens of cities and towns in the north of the country such as Idlib, Jisr al-Shughour, al-Atarib, al-Dana, Taftanaz, Azaz, Akhtarin, Marea, al-Bab, Jarablus, Afrin, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ain, etc. saw the holding of large demonstrations accompanied by the slogan: “We die but we do not reconcile with al-Assad”.
Al-Julani, with his message, embarrassed the Syrian military rebel and political factions that have not yet spoken out on the alleged Turkish willingness to normalise with Bashar al-Assad, and in his speech made it clear that they reject normalisation and reconciliation as he considers it a dangerous deviation that affects the goals of the revolution.
The HTS statement
The video of al-Julani’s statement was disseminated by the official and unofficial media and was widely circulated and echoed.
Below are the most interesting passages:
“This is our position and this is our message, and from here we show our position to the whole world that there is nothing between us and the criminal regime but the sword. [...] This is our call to every loyalist zealot to make efforts, sincerely commit themselves, put their hand in ours and side with us in facing these challenges and continue the alliance until the overthrow of the criminal regime [... ] The blessed Syrian revolution is facing a new challenge in its ongoing struggle against the criminal regime and its allies, and the discussions that are taking place between the criminal regime and its Russian ally, with the Turkish side, are considered a serious deviation that affects the goals of the Syrian revolution, so how will the criminal regime, generous in its donations, be rewarded for the crimes of rape? Will thousands of women be set free, or will it be rewarded for killing thousands of innocent children, or will it be rewarded for launching barrels of death and demolishing millions of houses over the heads of their inhabitants? [...] Our battle is not a political battle where people dispute positions and is not a civil war within the same house. So they have succeeded [...] O world, the people have chosen to live a life of humiliation and dishonour under the rule of the criminal regime, or to live a life of honour and dignity under the rule of Islam and revolution, and they have chosen; therefore, even if all the nations of the earth unite, they will not dissuade them, God willing [... ] O honourable sons of the revolution, do not grieve and do not despair, if the near and the far fail you, the revolution has its sons, leaders and soldiers, who pray night and day to protect the revolution and serve its people, we have prepared our equipment and we have prepared for the great days to come [... ] We will not rest, we will not get tired and we will not get bored until we put our eyes in the heart of Damascus, God willing, and overthrow this criminal regime, and rebuild the Levant, and we will brag about it to the whole world. [...] Syrians have come out for the sake of their freedom and salvation from the criminal regime perched on their chests, and for this, they have paid a heavy price in terms of killings, imprisonment and displacement. How can one accept reconciliation with this regime? The revolution is strong with its people and its children, and as long as we are steadfast in the revolution and its goals of overthrowing Assad's gangs, expelling the occupiers and gaining freedom, no force in the world can force us to reconcile. Today's popular demonstrations have shown that all liberated areas are united on one goal [...] O people, our battle is not a political battle where people dispute positions, and it is not a civil war within the same house, rather it is a battle between truth and lies, its night is like its day, only those who perish deviate from it [...] O criminal regime, do not rejoice at what is happening, for what is past is far more than what is left, for your hour has approached and the hour is even worse. [...] We will not be reconciled”.
Daniele Garofalo is a researcher and analyst on Jihadist terrorism and an expert in monitoring Jihadist media channels.
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