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| Col. Mustafa Hashim (top right) being interviewed in Latakia province last night |
I suspect
something fishy is going on among Syrian opposition leaders.
Five days
into the armed opposition’s spectacular advances on the
mountains of the coastal province of Latakia, Bashar al-Assad’s heartland, bigwigs in the
Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Syrian National Coalition (SNC) are believed to be lobbying
for cessation of the campaign.
A comment today -- signed
by the pseudonym “Sary Alsory” and carried on the SNC’s Facebook page
– said: “Some Supreme Military Command and Coalition members revealed their
ugly face and betrayal of the revolution and the nation by signing a document
calling for a moratorium on the coastal campaign. We hope to publish the names
of all signatories of the document.”
Interviewed live on air
last night, the Latakia campaign’s field commander of the central western
front, Col. Mustafa Hashim, said his men were being deliberately starved of
arms and munitions.
“Our (western) front has
not been treated on par with the other fronts since our (FSA) meeting in (the
Turkish resort of) Antalya” last December, Col. Hashim told Melad Fadl, his
interviewer from Aljazeera TV on the Latakia mountains.
The Antalya meeting
organized the FSA into five fronts: the northern front (Aleppo and Idlib), the
eastern front (Raqqa-Deir Ezzor and al-Hasakah), the western front
(Hama-Latakia-Tartus), the central front (Homs-Rastan) and the southern front
(Damascus-Dar al-Sweida).
Asked who was starving his
western front of arms and munitions, Col. Hashim said cryptically: “The backer
countries.
“The Unified Command
apportions the military aid it receives. I voiced my objections at previous
official meetings, saying I had my reservations about The Command unfairly arming
one front at the expense of another. The coastal front has received very
little.
“We have been hoarding
arms and munitions and planning this offensive (since Antalya).
“The campaign we launched
at 5 a.m. on August 4 is ongoing. The regime’s army has not been able to advance a single meter
anywhere. The offensive shall continue until Syria’s complete liberation.”
Reacting to Col. Hashim’s remarks,
Egyptian military strategy analyst Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Safwat el-Zayyat
told Aljazeera’s news anchor: “Had the armed opposition opened the western front
earlier, it could have helped the other fronts immensely.
“The coastal
front is the revolution’s success story of the year. It seems the man, Mustafa
Hashim, fears being starved of weapons.
“The big
question is: Are revolution backers shying away from killing (Assad’s) hopes of
a safe haven in a rump coastal state? Are they trying to stave off a sectarian
bloodbath (in the Alawite stronghold), which is the regime’s recruitment reservoir,
now that mountain villagers have started fleeing to Latakia city?
“True, FSA and
SNC leaders might be trying to stave off a sectarian bloodbath. But at the same
time, they have to realize the battle for the coastline will force the regime’s
hand to defend its last place of refuge, which would greatly reduce pressure on
the opposition in Homs, Damascus, Deraa, Aleppo and elsewhere.”
Within 24 hours
of the Latakia offensive kicking off, Khaled Yacoub Oweis wrote in a Reuters
dispatch, “A senior opposition figure, who declined to be
named, said the United States, a main backer of the Free Syrian Army, is
against targeting Latakia, because it could spark revenge attacks by Alawites
against its majority Sunni population and add to an already huge refugee
problem.
“Diplomats say the coastal
area and its mountain villages could be the scene of a bloodbath against the
region's Alawite population if Islamist hardliners end up eventually gaining
the upper hand in the conflict.”
In Washington yesterday,
State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told a press briefing former U.S.
ambassador to Syria Robert Ford “is in Paris today and tomorrow. He’s
meeting with members of the Syrian opposition to discuss the prospects of a
Geneva conference.
“We remain committed to helping
Syrians negotiate a political settlement along the lines of the June 2012
Geneva communiqué.
“In particular, Ambassador Ford is
talking to them about the need for a unified opposition delegation headed by
the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, the Syrian Opposition
Coalition, which can strongly press the case for its vision of what a
transition government – governing body should look like.”
Later in the
day, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister said they were
continuing to try to find common ground on Syria and other issues
“One thing I would
emphasize is on Syria while Sergei and I do not always agree completely on
responsibility for the bloodshed or on some of the ways forward, both of us and
our countries agree that to avoid institutional collapse and descent into
chaos, the ultimate answer is a negotiated political solution," Kerry
said.
“Syria indeed is
at the top of our agenda," Lavrov said through an interpreter. "The
goal is the same we need to start a political process.
However, Lavrov
suggested the main cause for urgency in the Russian view is an influx of
Islamic militant fighters into Syria.
“We need to stage
Geneva-2 conference and in my view the most important task for Geneva-2 would
be to honor the commitment of all G8 leaders...who called for the government
and opposition to join efforts to fight terrorists and force them away from
Syria,” the top Russian diplomat said. “Especially in light of
assessments we've been hearing lately this is of course our top priority.
