(Zaman Al Wasl)- A leaked recording of the Sheikh of the al-Baggara tribe, Nawaf al-Bashir, revealed statements he made supporting the regime and complimenting it, and others attacking the opposition and cursing it.
In the recording al-Bashir said, “From 2012 I have no relationship with the opposition, you heard me, with the cheating of the Coalition… you heard me in the council of non-nation… the government of cheating… the negotiation body… you heard me in the headquarters of cheating.”
He continued, “I have no support, my relationship with Saudi is zero and subzero, they are claiming to be Islamists, and Qatar only supports Muslim Brotherhood people, and we are not Muslim Brotherhood and we are not… not Islamists so we have no support.”
Al-Bashir repeated, “I have no support… I take nothing from Qatarael (the regime and its mercenary’s nickname for Qatar). A group of foreign friends are helping us and some members of the al-Baggara tribe her in Turkey.”
He explained, “If I received support one day I will only fight against Daesh and terrorism, and I will arm in arm with the regime, because the regime is the legitimacy, I reached the conviction that if there is legitimacy it is the regime, after five years of this filth and trash we saw called Mousara, and those who support this Islamized opposition… I reached the conviction that an unjust dictatorship is better than this chaos.”
Al-Bashir mockingly changed the word opposition in Arabic from ‘Mouarada’ to ‘Mouasara’ considering the opposition’s “task is back stabbing each other,” and they are a group of, “sheep and gossips.”
In the recording, al-Bashir accused those “who are called the Free Army,” especially in Deir Ez Zor, of robbing factories, pills, and establishments while the regime was providing services such as water, electricity, education and health. He expressed his contempt for liberating the areas from the regime, “what does this liberation mean, what is this trash liberation group, a bunch of gangs… it is a conviction I have reached.”
Al-Bashir called all those, “inside Syria” as mere tools, “screws in the car, all following foreign orders, and those funding them.” He considered that no one inside Syria has a national project, and if that person existed then he will not receive funding, “only mercenaries are funded… Here in Turkey only Islamists are allowed to do projects with what agrees with the Muslim Brotherhood… or rather, and I am speaking frankly, the regime is closer to me than these people… the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists.”
He attacked Riyad Hijab, the dissent Syrian prime minister and the head of the negotiation committee, saying Hijab “used to serve coffee in my office,” and added, “I brought (Hijab) to the branch command (Baath Party Branch).”
Al-Bashir expressed his anger against those who by his terms ignored him and kept him out of the game though he “was an opposition leader inside (Syria).” Al-Bashir evaded taking any responsibility for the situation in Syria saying he was prohibited from gaining funding, and “fought” by all sides.
Al-Bashir denied that he has any power or influence over faction leaders, and said, “Those who make the biggest heads bow are the Muslim Brotherhood, because they have control of everything… If you are under their umbrella your situation moves, you are not under their umbrella you are thrown out like a dog.” Al-Bashir considered that the Muslim Brotherhood should be held accountable for the destruction in Syria and he cursed them repeatedly in the recording.
Al-Bashir spoke of the humiliation he experienced over the past five years, and how some pushed him to beg, saying that the regime and its “shoe” offer more dignity.
Al-Bashir’s last comments in the recording were, “I have a great hatred towards the opposition and this revolution,” considering that the Muslim Brotherhood deserve more than Law 49 which Hafez al-Assad issued against them. The law led to their destruction and the execution of anyone suspected of belonging to the Brotherhood.
Confirming Previous Reports
Around six weeks ago, Zaman al-Wasl published an interview it conducted with Nawaf al-Bashir which included some attitudes and statements that some observers considered strange. Some readers criticized Zaman al-Wasl on the basis the newspaper had misquoted or altered al-Bashir’s statements.
This leaked recording obtained by Zaman al-Wasl, aligns with al-Bashir’s comments to Zaman al-Wasl although his comments during the interview disguised his true sentiments, and contained no swearing.
In the interview he undertook with Zaman al-Wasl, al-Bashir said, “The wrong in the support is that the support has only been for Islamists of all kinds.”
Al-Bashir also said, “Five years after this disaster in Syria we support a ceasefire, a political solution, the building of the institutions of the Syrian state, negotiations without pre-conditions, and killing the terrorists only as we do not want to fight the regime because the fall of the regime is the fall of the institutions of the Syrian state, and the alternative is Islamic extremism, and we are against that.”
According to this video, Sheikh of the al-Baggara tribe, Nawaf al-Bashir, vows support to the Syrian regime and criticizes opposition.
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