FSA commander: 'Turkey informed us about de-escalation zones months ago'

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Captain Hussein Haj Ali, the commander of Jaish Idlib (Idlib Army) subordinate to the Free Syrian Army said that the idea of establishing safe zones, or what are called the de-escalation zones, is a previous initiative proposed by the Turkish government and discussed with the opposition several months ago.

In a special interview on Zaman al-Wasl TV, Haj Ali confirmed that the opposition factions refused to sign an agreement memorandum about establishing safe zones in four Syrian provinces which was signed by the Russians, Turks and Iranians in the Astana conference in recent days.

Haj Ali explained that he refused to sign the agreement due to the great discrepancy in the clauses most importantly his refusal accept Iranian participation and the guarantors not accepting to increase the safe zones to include Hama’s countryside and eastern Qalamoun extending to the Iraqi border.

Captain Haj Ali pointed out that the al-Assad forces supported by its Russian warplanes continue to violate the truce agreement. They continued their aggression in Hama’s countryside before and after signing the agreement. He indicated that the opposition and factions are ready to open new battles with the regime and the Iranian and Lebanese militias in the event these attacks continue.

In response to a question about the reasons the armed opposition implicitly accepted the agreement despite its lack of seriousness, Captain Haj Ali responded, “We as a Free Army and rebels showed our implicit agreement to it before the Geneva 4 conference was held. It was a desire on our part to reduce the bloodshed and systematic killing of civilians in liberated areas. The al-Assad regime and its allies have been pursuing this (systematic killing) since the start of the revolution, and this agreement will not make us give up the principles of the Syrian revolution and its fundamentals of the inevitability of the fall of the al-Assad regime.”

It must be mentioned that the Free Idlib Army is an alliance of several factions in Syria’s liberated north which was established before nine months and it includes the 13th Division, the Northern Division, and Skore al-Jabal Brigade. Their members number at around 6,000 fighters among them 200 officers of different ranks.