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| Hezbollah's black flag of "Ya Hussein" on a minaret in al-Qusayr |
Aljazeera
Mubasher aired the following
interview with Gen. Salim
Idriss, chief of staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian
Army, today. The translation is my own:
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| Gen. Idriss being interviewed |
Q. General,
brief us if you may about Qusayr and the overall military situation
The battle for Qusayr drew a lot of media attention.
It was certainly a major and key battle. Fact is that huge numbers of Hezbollah
fighters – we’re talking of more than 7,000 fighters – crossed the Lebanese
borders into the town’s outlying areas. It is an open secret that these were elite
and well-equipped Hezbollah forces.
They crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border under the
nose of the Lebanese army. We have information the Lebanese army watched nonchalantly
as they crossed the border. The army did absolutely nothing to stop them. In
truth, and to put it diplomatically, this is utter complicity.
The fighters went in and were able, after some fierce
fighting, to take control of a number of villages in close proximity to the
border.
Throughout the fighting, these (Hezbollah) forces
were receiving unprecedented air cover from the criminal regime’s warplanes,
which dropped all kinds of bombs and medium-range missiles -- including thermobaric bombs and
long-range shells -- against
our men and villages.
Mechanized regime forces and Hezbollah fighters then used
what is called scorched tactics to pulverize Qusayr, one neighborhood after the
other, in order to be able to control it.
The number of injured in Qusayr is very high and
humanitarian conditions are tough because the criminal regime’s forces and
Hezbollah fighters had been blockading Qusayr town for weeks.
With their light weapons, FSA forces were left with two
options: hold out and be wiped out altogether, or retreat along with the
wounded, who were many.
We, as FSA, acknowledge that we cannot face up to the
regime’s regular army when it is in full-strength. Between brackets, the regime
has no army left to fight us with. Its army was over and done with a long time
ago.
The best way for us to fight this regime is by
guerilla warfare or hit and run tactics without holding on to territory. But in
Qusayr, we were forced to defend our people’s security.
Displays and manifestations of sectarianism,
confessional hatred and fanaticism started as soon as regime forces and
Hezbollah fighters went into Qusayr.
First thing they did was to raise a black flag with
the (Shiite) cry “Ya (Oh) Hussein” inscribed on
it and chant that they are “the sons of Ali.”
This liar, Hassan Nasrallah, used to claim he is a
resistance (movement against Israel), which he considered to be Islamic.
These (Hezbollah) people are unrelated to Islam or to
Hussein or to Ali or to Zeinab.
After all, Hussein is ours and so is Zeinab.
These people are simply carrying out a dirty Iranian scheme.
God willing, the end of the Hezbollah movement will
come here on Syrian land.
Syria has an area of 185,000 square kilometers. Her
people, her heroes, her freedom fighters have gulped down the criminal regime’s
army and are able to gulp down Hassan Nasrallah’s fighters.
Q. Did you set
a new strategy for the coming battles, especially after reports that Hezbollah
fighters are now massing in Aleppo, Homs and Rif Dimashq?
Certainly, but this not something we would share with
the media.
But the leaders of Hezbollah and Iran know – and so
does the criminal Bashar – the high figure of casualties they sustained to
enter a small town. Can they keep up the momentum and bear such a high casualty
toll?
We are 23 million people spread over an area of
185,000 kilometers. We will all be fighting Hezbollah and the other Iraqi
Shiite bigots and Iranian fighters who support the regime. We will fight them
to the finish.
We assure them, we are aware this is going to be a tough
and long-drawn-out war that could last for years. The Lebanese war lasted 17
years.
The fact Hassan Nasrallah acted on Iran’s orders and joined
criminal Bashar in this war opened the door to all probabilities. We are
prepared for this confrontation. We are ready for this war.
Through your channel, I appeal to my brothers the
combatants, fighters and insurgents to raise their alertness condition to “Maximum
Readiness” level in order to confront the ongoing sectarian invasion.
After Bashar pioneered sectarianism, which was unbeknown
to us, Hassan Nasrallah comes in to hoist black flags on top of our minarets
This is something we will not forget. We believe in
tit for tat. We shall fight them, even if the war were to last a thousand
years.
Q. How is
the situation now in Qusayr? Are there still civilians there?
I can’t discuss the fate of the civilians and wounded,
if only because regime warplanes are still chasing the wounded.
Whenever they are moved from Qusayr to medical
facilities inside or outwith Lebanese territory, regime warplanes and Hezbollah
fighters track them.
So I apologize for not being able to share with you
any information on the state of the civilians, the wounded, the state of Qusayr
or the villages near it.
Q. Did fighting
flare up in Rif Dimashq because Hezbollah fighters joined the fray en masse?
Hezbollah fighters are now spread across Syria. They
have a presence in Eastern Ghouta alongside Iraqi Shiite extremists belonging
to the Mahdi Brigade and ‘Asa’eb al-Haq, Iranian combatants and Shiite
volunteers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Hezbollah fighters also have a presence in Rif
Dimashq’s western and northern sectors. They have a tightly packed presence in
Aleppo, Idlib and east Syria. We know their numbers, where they are positioned
and where their sleeping quarters are.
For example, we know that some 4,000 Hezbollah
fighters are accommodated in the Military Academy west of Aleppo. They are
bracing for battle on the Khan Al Asal front.
Q. Can you
promise the poorly armed FSA members qualitative weapons anytime soon?
Victory comes from God, faith and the cause we are
upholding – namely, to uproot this tyrant who destroyed the country, its people
and social fabric.
Weapons are vital and much needed. But the
determining factor is faith and the fighter’s belief in the justice of his
cause.
They’ve been saying they stifled the revolution for
two years and they stifled nothing. They now brought in Hezbollah, their last
card – unless of course they call on Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards to intervene directly.
Q. Will the
FSA be intervening in Lebanon to fight Hezbollah there?
Frankly, we did not and will not ask our fighters to
go into Lebanon.
We don’t want to fight on Lebanese territory.
Lebanon is a country we respect. We know Lebanese
authorities can’t lift a finger against Hezbollah. Hezbollah wreaked havoc in
Lebanon and destroyed its social fabric. It totally disregards state authority.
We repeatedly urged the Lebanese president to condemn
(Hezbollah’s invasion). But we excuse him because he cannot do that. They
(Hezbollah) would create all sorts of problems for him.
The (Lebanese) president is an honorable man and we
respect him highly.
The (caretaker) Prime Minister (Najib Mikati) however
is an accomplice of Hezbollah -- and so is the Lebanese army, whether willingly
or unwillingly.
But we will not fight inside Lebanese territory.
Q. Are you
coordinating positions with the Syrian National Coalition in respect of the
proposed Geneva-2 conference?
Geneva-2 is the brainchild of the Russians and
Americans.
The Russians want to exploit it to tell the world the
Syrian opposition is divided.
They are hedging their bets on seeing the opposition
represented at the conference by four caucuses: (1) The FSA and other fighters
(2) The National Coalition (3) Haytham Manna’ and his loyalists (4) The
so-called State-Building Bloc created by Assad…
The Russians want them all to meet with Walid
al-Muallem so they can later say the opposition is disjointed and there is no
solution other than keeping Assad to restore security and stability in Syria
and protect its minorities.
The long and short of our position on Geneva-2 is
this:
- One delegation – with one head – goes to the conference to represent the opposition.
- The delegation would forthwith table its conditions to negotiate a peaceful solution.
- The conditions are (a) the criminal Bashar al-Assad resigns instantly and leaves the country he destroyed (b) criminal heads of the security services and commanders of the quisling army are referred to trial (c) a transitional government is formed -- one in which the opposition holds sway.
- From thereon, we will submit to whatever decisions are taken by the Syrian people.
I want to assure the Syrian people the political and
armed wings of the opposition are one in wanting the new Syria to be free and
democratic, respectful of all religions, free of any sort of discrimination or
acts of revenge, where citizens have equal rights and obligations…
Q. What’s your reading of the days
ahead?
The situation is grave, very grave. We forewarn
everyone in the world that massacres and many tragedies are in store for Syria.
To date, 60 to 70 percent of Syria is in ruin.
The country might yet be thoroughly destroyed, which
is sad but likely.
Others might not be spared. Bashar, Iran and Hezbollah
have no qualms about destroying the whole region.
The greatest danger facing the world today is Iran and
its quest to revive Khosru’s
Sassanid Empire.
Q. And what
about the clashes on the Golan front?
All Syrians are familiar with Bashar’s heroics on the
Golan front. As Don Quixote incarnated, he never fought or would fight Israel.
He says he will choose the time end place to fight
Israel. The time and place will never come.
Bashar and Israel have an undeclared alliance. He is the
best neighbor Israel could have. That’s why Israel does not want to see him
fall.
Q. Any
message you would like to convey to the Syrians?
To all men on all fronts, I would say: Make sure to
raise your alertness condition to “Maximum Readiness” level.
To all other Syrians in every city, town, village or
rural area, I would say: Take up arms to defend your homeland against a foreign
invasion. I ask everyone short of a rifle to sell his clothes and buy one.
