Free Army supports Coalition, as we only decide who will go to Geneva II: Jamous says

Bader Jamous, the secretary General of the national coalition declared that national coalition is the only body in the opposition can decide participants in Geneva 2, because it is the only internationally recognized body of the opposition, according to the Arab League’s decision.

The secretary General added that participation of the national coordination body in the delegation for Geneva 2 would divide the opposition. He stressed that no one from the national coalition has communicated with the national coordination body.

“we are not going to Geneva 2 to take power and rule Syria, we want to go to Geneva to transfer power to Syrian people, and then they will go for election to chose whoever they want, even if it resulted in choosing a member from the national coordination, we will respect the decision”

Mr. Jamous explained reasons behind visiting Russia saying: “the aim of the visit is to remind Russia, especially before Geneva 2, of its international responsibility and to convince it to stand by Syrian people as Bashar al-Assad has become out of any political process in Syria,. However we have not seen any changes.” He added.

In regard to Iran, Mr.Jamous said that opposition’s attitude toward it is different from Russia’s.

“Iran takes part in killing Syrian people and provides Syrian regime with men, money and military equipments. therefore, we cannot separate Iran from the regime” he explained.

The Secretary General denied following other countries’ agendas, despite the national coalition is under international pressure, but it is not necessarily to abide by that pressure.

Mr. Jamous considers the armed forces on ground a crucial part of the opposition, and he confirmed that National coalition would not sign any agreement in Geneva without the armed forces approval, as representatives of them would be part of the delegate team in Geneva.

He assures that armed forces would leave arms the moment the war in Syria stopped and Assad leaves the power, because in the end they protested and held arms to overthrow the regime, once it gone, there would be no need to fight.

He find the choice of safe exit for Assad as a result of Geneva 2 a hard choice, but he said: “in the end it is a national decision, forces on ground who have the say, no one can talk on behalf of the Martyrs’ families”

Mr. Jamous confirmed that there is intensive effort to unite battalions and armed groups on ground under the name of National Army and the supreme military council leadership. “Indeed, the Minister of Defence has started working on this issue especially inside Syria to unite the forces under national or Islamic or whatever, as name is not important once all forces get united”.

Read the original post; Translation by Yusra Ahmed