An interview with the general leader of Ahraar Shaam: Ali Abu Amar Al-Umar

By the Syrian media activist Hadi Abdullah

Concerning a political solution and cease fire. The leader of Ahraar Shaam Abu Amar Al-Umar was asked by Hadi Abdullah about their hesitation concerning the conference in Riyad and the cease fire. Did Ahraar Shaam sing it or did they not? Abu Amar Al-Umar answers:

“We are not hesitant in our decrees, we study the decrees carefully and we consult the specialist, then we decide on a decree which is in the benefit of the revolution and the people of Syria. If they are beneficial and they do not oppose the Sharia we are not hesitant. As for the conference in Riyad or the ceasefire then we have openly declared our position concerning it. We have published a statement that we did not sign the conference in Riyad because of the mentioned reasons at that time. The one who want to know our decrees must do so through our official outlets and our official spokesperson. Not what the media claims who have certain interests like the search for a quick scoop. So the decree must be searched form its original source and these are our official media outlets. And we will not lie against our people.

We are not against a political solutions if is achieves the demands of the people and the goals of its revolution and honors the sacrifices we made. But we refused the ceasefire and declared our refusal for several reasons. The first reason is that the political solution of this ceasefire was unclear, and this cease fire was under the wing of Russia and they are an occupying enemy in Syria who came to support the regime, they have declared this themselves. Secondly this cease fire has excluded some factions from the bombardments and these factions are working with us on the ground and in the liberated territories, and they can be used as an excuse by Russia and the regime and Iran. Like Jabhat Fath Shaam was used as an excuse in Aleppo. And the reality was that they targeted civilians in Aleppo openly and all the opposition soldiers without differentiating between them. So every exclusion of any faction will not give way for a real cease fire. Because of these reasons and others we refused this cease fire and we have openly declared this. Every ceasefire that does not achieve the demands of the people will not last, and the collapse of this cease fire is clearly visible in Wadi Barada and the daily bombardments by the regime on the liberated territories; they did not stop until this very moment under the silence of the caretakers and those who oversaw this ceasefire. Every cease fire that does not guarantee the demands of the Syrian people from its very beginning will not last. We can not enter in such a cease fire and political solution.”

Hadi Abdullah asks the leader of Ahraar Shaam Abu Amar Al-Umar about the unconfirmed reports about Russia supporting Turkey in the Euphrates Shield Operation in Al-Baab and other ISIS territories (which was coincidentally confirmed right after this interview as both Russia and Turkey openly announced that they will cooperate with each other against ISIS in Northern Syria). What is the position of Ahraar Shaam if these reports are true?

“The reports about Russia cooperating with Turkey in the Euphrates Shield Operation is still under investigation and research by us, we completely reject the Russian intervention in this operation, and if we have confirmed this we will take the appropriate choice.”

Hadi Abdullah asks the leader Abu Amar Al-Umar: During the demand of people in demonstration on the streets for the factions to merge we heard about defections within Ahraar Shaam. And there were rumours that Ahraar Shaam are the ones who sabotaged the merger with the other factions. What is the truth to this? The leader Abu Amar answered:

“There have not been any defections within Ahraar Shaam, there were some administrative differences, they were leaked and exaggerated by those who benefit from creating division within Ahraar Shaam. But the movement is still strong and its institutions are stable without any defects. And these differences are being solved by the permission of Allah which will rectify Ahraar Shaam again. And the accusation that we sabotaged the merger is injustice. The best answer to this is the history of this movement for the past two years. It has merged with several factions before under the Islamic Front and does not stand in the way of any merger which achieves the demands of the arena. More than a year ago the scholarly assembly called the factions to a merger and Ahraar Shaam was one of the first to answer to this call.

But this initiative stopped all of a sudden as some factions refused to enter because of their own reasons. After that a number of scholars and students wanted the complete authorization to initiate a merger, we gave them this complete authority, but this initiative also stopped because some factions refused without clarifying the reasons. And the scholars are the ones who know who these factions are. After a new attempt to merge was initiated around three months ago and fifteen factions joined it, some fundamental agreements were made, and then this imitative stopped due to Jabhat Fath Shaam without clarifying the reasons. After that this latest attempt came. Ahraar Shaam wants a merger which achieves the demands of the arena, meaning a military and a political unification, which encompasses the majority of factions on the arena. If not all of them then at least most of them. What happened is that Ahraar Shaam initiated a coordinational front of a high level in matters of military, political and judiciary orders, and the unification of checkpoints and security. And some factions accepted it.

We informed the factions that we would propose this imitative to all the factions on the arena including Jabhat Fath Shaam. In this period a gathering occurred with Jabhat Fath Shaam and the brothers from Harakat Nurdine Zinki. And we discussed some issues which were paused in the merger of three months ago. So it was as if we picked up the merger talks of three months ago and this merger encompasses most of the factions on the arena. When some obstacles were removed, which paused us three months ago, we signed an agreement for this merger which would be presented to all the other factions. Including the factions who agreed on the coordinational front three months ago. So we considered this to be a continuing process which started three months ago. But when we presented this to the factions they felt that they were left out from the agreement so they refused to enter this merger. And they requested a gathering to renew the discussions concerning all the matters of the merger. While Harakat Nurdine Zinki was authorized by a number of factions to negotiate the merger on their behalf.

But when the factions were called to join this merger they said that they were left out from the merger talks and that they did not attend the merger agreements. We reminded them that this merger was a follow up on the merger which was paused three months ago in which you yourselves attended. But they said that the length of three months between the two proofs that this is a new merger, so we want to renew the discussions about it. We gathered most of these factions in one meeting and discussed this issue, but Jabhat Fath Shaam refused to renew the discussions from the beginning because of certain reasons of their own. So a complete merger was therefore not achieved, the unification we want of the arena, in one entity, with one military and political order. We then proposed a coordinational front of a high level to these faction as the most realistic choice we have right now which guarantees the unification of the military and political orders and decrees in the coming period, and the end result of this front will be a merger; after a period of time, depending on the circumstances, we hope that this will be in a short period. But we have to solve several concerns, among them the unification of military and political decrees. And the current polarization on the arena has to stop.

Like the polarization of accusations and Islamic verdicts. We were avoiding the polarization that every party would see himself as the truth. The difference of opinion that occurred between the scholars is not more than a difference of opinion. Some viewed that the merger is achieved this way and that it was obligatory to join it, and others saw this as merely one of ways to merge and that there are other ways as well. We do not view the verdict which obliged the factions to merge as a verdict of overpowerment, but we differ with them about the statement that those who do not join this merger are sinful, because we are convinced that the merger has many images, but the goal of a merger is the unification of decrees on the arena. And this was not achieved in this merger, rather there were two decrees.

What we desired from this merger was not achieved sufficiently. So our proposal was the coordinational front. This front will achieve the goals of the merger through the unification of orders and decrees, military and politically, and its end-result will be a merger. With it we would have removed the polarization and achieved a merger in a certain way. This is being discussed and consulted at the moment. The people without a doubt want a merger which is not spoiled by harms even if they do not state this, so we are perusing a merger without harms which could be abused by the enemy with incitements and mobilizations. This could be achieved in the near future, and the reality of the arena is that it is walking the path of mergers, because the number of factions today are less than the number of factions a year ago. But again we do not want mergers which carry harms that could be abused by the enemy.”

Hadi Abdullah asks Abu Amar Al-Umar: People complain about the lack of security in the liberated territories, we see nearly every day corpses laying around of civilians and fighters and most of them are from Ahraar Shaam. What is the reason for this security breach?

“There are several parties who disrupt the security in the liberated territories most prominent are cells connected to ISIS which have reorganized themselves after it defected from Jabhat Fath Shaam, who had joined it under the umbrella of Jund Al-Aqsa. It has reorganized and started attacking civilians as well as fighters. Jabhat Fath Shaam guaranteed that it would oversee them in an agreement between us but its terms were not implied unfortunately. And the brother from Jabhat Fath Shaam may answer why the terms were not met. Secondly there are cells connected to the regime, our security personal have caught several of such cells, we have showed some of them and others are still under investigation and we will publish it in the appropriate time. And here we want to call upon the civilians to inform us about anything suspicious they have seen, and we will deal with it correctly with the will of Allah.”

Hadi Abdullah asks the leader of Ahraar Shaam Abu Amar Al-Umar: We have recently witnessed an increase in the US air strikes on the men from Jabhat Fath Shaam including their leaders and bases. What is your position as a movement concerning these operations?

“We have showed our position previously. Ignoring the militias spread all over Syria who target civilians and rape women and violate honors, most prominent the Lebanese Hizballah which is internationally designated as a terrorist organisation, including Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian militias. Ignoring all of these entities which spreads corruption on the earth, while striking a faction which is actively fighting against the regime, and most of their men are from this country, is prejudice in favor of the regime against the revolution. And we reject this matter completely and we consider it to be a policy of double standards.”

Hadi Abdullah asks the leader of Ahraar Shaam Abu Amar Al-Umar: The subject of Aleppo. The fall of Aleppo. It shook us all, what are the reasons for the fall of Aleppo.



“The regime started its campaign against Aleppo during the second half of 2015 and it used different methods, most important the policy of a scorched earth with the help of the invading Russian air planes and the increase of numbers on the ground which were gathered from outside the borders, most prominent the militias of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Until the regime reached Nubl and Zahraa, after reaching these two cities they began to advance gradually until they besieged the city of Aleppo. In addition to the neutral territories under the control of ISIS who guaranteed the regime safe passage to attack them from their side. And ISIS was also attacking the territories of the Mujahideen at the same time with the regime.



The regime besieged Aleppo for over five months and the regime used the tens of thousands of civilians present in Aleppo as a pressure card, whom they bombed day and night by the regime and the Russian airplanes. The factions sacrificed in two attempts to break the siege on Aleppo. But the magnitude of the campaign was enormous in addition to the policy of a scorched earth by regime and Russian airplanes. This fierce campaign led to the siege on Aleppo. After the siege the regime and Russia used the civilians as a pressure card, tens of thousand of civilians in Aleppo were confronted by the uncontrolled barbaric bombardments. All the hospitals in Aleppo went out of service due to the bombardments, in addition to the lack of humanitarian aid, this was used- and put great pressure on the factions.



All of this led eventually to the negotiations, in addition to the fighting spirit that was lost and the disputes that occurred between the factions during the siege on Aleppo. The absence of leaders in the media to raise their fighting spirit could be one of the reason but the major reasons was the fierce campaign by Russia and the regime and the militias. These are the real reasons that led to the fall of Aleppo. The military leaders did their best in the campaign we have mentioned and they have targeted many positions of the regime simultaneously to pressure the regime to stop the campaign. Al-Faruq Abu Bakr is one of the leaders of Ahraar Shaam in Aleppo he oversaw the negotiations with the leaderships counsel in Aleppo, he achieved an agreement with the regime that would minimize the harms by letting the civilians leave in safety and the fighters with their weapons, by placing Kfarya and Al-Fua against Aleppo on the table. We were able to link this in the negotiations agreement.



There is no doubt that the fall of Aleppo is a great loss for the revolution but this does not in any way mean that the revolution has ended. Every revolution passed through stages of victory and it could pass through a stage of decline. The regime after they took Aleppo, and after they depended on the support of Russia, and the policy of a scorched earth, and the Iranian occupation, and the militias that entered from all directions, does not occupy but one fifth of Syria. While the revolution is still standing and carried by the people, the demonstrations we are witnessing today is indicating the renewal of the revolution.



And we must mention that the revolution started without any elements, they were peaceful in the beginning and when they carried weapons they carry very simple weapons. Today we posses advanced weaponry to a certain degree and we have thousands of fighters and we control vast amounts of territory, we have many methods we can use to carry on the initiative. No doubt that there are many glad tidings and the most important is the perseverance of the revolution in the hearts of the revolutionaries. These demonstrations we have mentioned indicate that the revolution is still ongoing and young and full of life. And we have many methods like I said we can use at the appropriate time, and there are many military operations which we can start in the coming period, which will reenergize the revolution again.”

General translation by Al-Maqalaat:

Follow our new (!) channel: https://t.me/Al_Maqalaat_P