6th February, 2016

“We call upon the regime and its supporters to halt their bombardment of opposition-held areas, especially in Aleppo, and to lift their besiegement of civilians in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2254 and 2258….” Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement after the failure of the Geneva conference, which the the Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) withdrew from, following the SAA’s successful operations in ending the siege imposed upon the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa just North of Aleppo for the past three and a half years.

A source close to Syrian President Bashar Assad said to Al-Rai, “The Americans were caught napping by the quick advancements on the ground brought on by the Russian offensive who managed to turn the tide of the war. Now, the Americans are contradicting themselves since the UN resolution 2254 reaffirms in point 8 and the 2249 resolution (2015) that all member states should fight against ISIS and Al-Nusra and all other groups, all individuals that support them, and that aforementioned ceasefire will not apply to these groups and individuals and that they ought to be eradicated”.

The source elaborates, “Secretary Kerry is not only going against the UN resolutions that he himself is quoting, but worse, he is defending Al-Qaeda and their affiliate groups that are run by ex-Guantanamo prisoners. In the past, Secretary Kerry never asked to stop the military operations around Aleppo by Jaish al-Fateh ( The Army of Conquest) who besieged for three and a half years the citizens of Nubl and Al-Zahraa. The main purpose of such a call is to prevent the SAA from eradicating Al-Qaeda et al from Aleppo and its country side. Beside, for Mr. Kerry to be tranquil, al-qaeda and its allies are not under siege since they are linked to Idlib and the Turkish border to date”.

The source continues, “The Army of Conquest controls Aleppo whose judicial body is administered by Abdullah Al-Muhaysini, a Saudi national with Al-Qaeda, we believe, he is on the US State Department terror list. The “army” that Mr. Kerry is asking to lift the siege upon consists of Al-Nusra, Ahrar Al-Sham, Al-Aqsa brigade, The Army of Muhajirin & Ansar and others. They are located in, and around Aleppo with various other groups. Al-Nusra, al-qaeda fi billed al-Sham, has a judicial court in Haritan and Idlib. It has control over granaries near the city of Al-Bab, the cotton conclaves, the tractor factory and other sources that represent a substantial financial supply to the organisation. Mr. Kerry wants Al-Qaeda to keep the control of these key infrastructure that represent a source of income to al-Qaeda”.

“As for The Army of Muhajirin & Ansar who pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda, the majority of their combatants are from Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, and Uzbekistan. The Russian language is the one used among these foreign fighters. There is no doubt that the US is not worried about those who are a danger to Russia, and Kerry is defending them even if they were named on his own US terror list in 2014. They are calling for the establishment of the Khilafa state, they are centered in Haritan, Kafr Hamza, Ma’arrat al-atiq, North of Aleppo, around Nubl and Al-Zahraa, Jabhat hatharat, and Jamiyat Al-Zahraa district in Aleppo”.

“Ahrar Al-Sham was founded by Sheikh Abu-Jabir who fought the Americans in Iraq, and was appointed as Amir of Aleppo after the death of Abu-Khalid al-Souri (the Syrian), whose was labeled as one of the most dangerous leaders in Al-Qaeda. He was also the special envoy to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Ahrar Al-Sham are key allies of Al-Qaeda in Aleppo, even if they are separated from each other as organizations, its Al-Qaeda like ideology and their behavior looms large over its nature”

According to the same source Kerry is also defending “Harakat Sham al-Islam” , founded by an ex-prisoner in Guantanamo bay detention camp, Ibrahim bin Shakran, (Abu-Ahmad Al-Muhajir) whose a Moroccan national that was killed in April 2014. He was replaced by Mohammad Mizouz (Abu-Iz Al-Muhajir), who was captured by US military on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He used to be in Guantanamo bay detention camp, and is now fighting alongside Al-Qaeda in Syria and was named in the US terror list back in September 2014. There are other movements that are sponsored by Turkey such as the Syrian Turkmen Brigade, Sultan Murad Brigade, Sultan Muhammad Fatih battalion, Nur Al-Din Zinki movement along with others. All these groups are cooperating with Al-Qaeda even though UN resolution states that we are supposed to work together to eradicate them, and that the ceasefire agreements does not include them”.