The ousted chairman of rebels Joint Chief of Staff, General
Salim Idriss revealed to Zaman Alwasl that he wrote his resignation to the fronts’
leaders who went to negotiate with the coalition president Mr. Ahmed al-Jarba,
to end the crisis that followed Idris’s dismissal.
Idriss, former head of Supreme Military Council (SMC) of the Free Syrian Army, has denied clinging to the post, and proposed mass resignations from the General Staff to the leaders of fronts, through the minister of Defense to get rid of domination and eliminate revolution’s climbers.
On the dispute between him
and the defense minister Mr. Asaad Mustafa, he said that since the appointment
of the latter as minister, there wasinside information from Mustafa’s circles
that he intends to change Idris.
"I asked him directly
about it, but he denied and said that these are small things that don’t
matter.” Idris added.
Idris compared his
situation in the revolution to a quote that he had heard from a European
official describing him, "You have the most difficult task in the
world ... You are required to do
everything and get nothing in return”.
The following are the
details of the interview:
Someinterpreted what
happened between the staff and the defense minister Mustafa Asaad as a coup
after the thirtieth Council statement, how do you see that?
Since Mustafa’s
appointment as a defense minister in the interim government, Isupported and
stood by him to achieve success in our revolutionarywork;unfortunately, I
receiveddaily information that he talks in his inner circles about changing me.
When I faced him, he
denied completely while he was actually implementing his plan for reasons that
I will not discuss now.
In the day they announced
my dismissal, I was abroad and informed of the news that were circulated
through the media, and in this context I say the dismissal statement is illegal
due to the following reasons:
1- The thirtieth Council is legally deactivatedbecause its “internal
regulations”are not certified by the Generalauthoritywhich is responsible to
put these rules.
2-The
number of attendees at the meeting is 21, including four non originalmembers,
and according to the uncertifiedinternal regulations, no member is entitled to delegate
someone to attend or vote instead of him.
The presence of those
people in the session violates the internal regulations, and the rest of the original
members are 17including a member who hasn’t attended anymeetings since the
establishment of the council and consequently lost his membership.
In addition to another
member who has been absent for four months from all the council meetings which
makes his membership illegal too.
The remaining members are 15,
and that is less than two-thirds of the council members, consequently any decision
issued by them is invalid according to the council’sinternal regulations which
they put themselves.
Frankly, the decision of my dismissal was a cunning action done merely for personal reasons.
3 - The minister of defense
did not run for office in a legal way since the internal regulations state to
nominate five people for the job, but the thirtieth Council only nominated 2
people.
And I was not informed of
the meeting, in which the nomination took place, taking into accounts that according to the internal regulations I’m the
council chairman because there was no
defense minister , and the letter of nomination should be passed through me
with my signature, which none of that have happened.
We did not even send an
official letter of Mustafa’s nomination to the coalition president Mr.AhamdJarba,
and the truth of the matter is that hidden agreements have been made between
people in the council, and as a result, I think what happened Is worse than a coup,
noting that coups usually occur againstpresidents, and I don’t pretend to be
one nor want to bear this trait.
- Where did the reconciliation efforts reach in reforming and
reuniting the Staff General with the Ministry of Defense?
Because
we are keen on uniting our alignments against the criminal regime,we, the Chief
of Staff and all the front leaders and local councils have started an initiative
to solve this crisis, and a meeting has been held on 4/3/2014 with the coalition
president and attended by the interim defense minister.
The attended parties
agreed on the resignation of Asaad Mustafa and his deputies, in addition to my
resignation and the expansion of the Thirtieth Council.
The coalition president,
Mr. Ahmad Jarba along with and some Front and Military Leaders signed the
agreement and decided
to meet the next day in addition to the Thirtieth council, Defense Ministerfor
the implementation of the agreement.
Howeverthe
Defense Minister retreated from his promise to resign and all efforts failed to
resolve thisdispute.
Clearly
the meeting was just to summon Front and Military Leaders and insult,provoke,
and intimidate them, after Assad Mustafa and the Thirtieth Council and Ahmad
Jarba’s team rebutted all that have been agreed on earlier.
- What is the way out of
this crisis, and what are the proposed initiatives?
The solution to this crisis
is through an urgent call to a conference of Military and Revolutionary forces
to restructure the entire GeneralStaff, and that includes:
• Chief of Staff (Gen.
Salim Idriss) and his administration.
• Thirtieth Council with
its members
• Front and Military
Leaders
• The Defense Minister in
the interim government and his deputies.
As
soon as the conference is held, everyone should submit his resignation in the
conference to end the domination of some (climbers) who exclusively controlled
the revolution’s political, military, and revolutionary leaderships.
Syrians
are blaming the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, they say: “Al-Assad
is killing us, while the opposition is killing itself”, what do you say to
them?
We
have nothing to do with the opposition’s political problems, although we are
sorry for what is happening in the oppositionrows, and we in the General Staff
of Military and Revolutionary forces do not have problems or divisions.
Everyone
knows that we have other kinds of problems, such as sacristy of supply of all
kinds, and we had great faith in the minister of defense, but unfortunately the
developments came contrary to our expectations and the way things supposed to
be.
We
must be united and work together away from personalization, egoism and ideas
that were prevalent during Al Assadregime, by excluding all that was before the
minister and start all over againwith a new staff.
What
happened with the (arming)subject, and what is the available weapon right now?
It’s
sad to talk about this subject, because over the past period, and since the establishment
of General Staff, we were and still suffer from lack of arming especially heavy
weapons and a good quality ammunition.
- Are
you still in charge of weapons and supplying rebels with them, or the rules of
the game has changed after the dismissal?
Even
before the dismissal decision, there was a decline in arms and ammunitions
shipments which are provided through the General Staff.
And
before the dismissal decision (which we don’t acknowledge at all) we were working
on a new arming mechanism, but can’t talk about it through the media.
Some
say: “why are you clinging to the seat”, and why blame Bashar al-Assad as long
as you are fighting over a post, how do you respond?
I
tell everyone that I’m not clinging to the seat, and ready to resign
immediately from what some think is a (post).
When
my brothers (the military and council leaders) went to implement the agreement
with Ahmad Al Jarba, I gave them my written resignation and they put it in
their pocket to be handed once the agreement is done.
I
want everyone to understand that I do not want any postas a reward to resign,
and what is mentioned about appointing me as a military adviser to the Coalition
is just a suggestion made by my brothers.
I
don’t want to be anybody’s advisor with all the due respect, love and appreciation,
I just want to convey to you what a European Official told me in a one of the countriesfriend
to Syria "You have the most difficult task in the world ... “You are required to do everything and
get nothing in return”.
A
lot of people who work with me know that I wanted to resign four months ago,
and has informed a lot of friends, among them prominent figures in the
countries (Friends of Syria) about my intention to resign, but everyone was
convincing me otherwise in hope that we will be supplied with weapons to change
the situation on the ground.
And
whenAleppo was bombarded by explosive barrels , and were paralyzed to do
anything, I contacted the defenseminister and told him” what is the use of our
positions and ranks if wecan’t do anything , it’s better to resign and explain to
people what we are suffering from” .
- Does
the FSA still believe of its ability to overthrow Al Assad Regime?
If
the arms and ammunitions are available, FSA is able to military overthrow Al
Assad because the regime forces are exhausted and collapsed.
We
ask to be provided with missiles, air defense and anti-armor missiles and
sufficient quantities of ammunition and then judge us if we can’ttopple the
regime.
The
coalition is heading to Washington in search for weapons, where is the General
Staff and military leader of this matter?
We
wish them all the luck, and we support whoever supplies the revolution with the
needed weapons, but of course they should have been accompanied by military
experts to discuss the technical subjects which are their specialization.
-How is your relationship inside
the country, Is it possible for FSA to regain its prestige and determination,
and how?
My
relationship with the inside is excellent, and I have never known that I have
this great support among the battalions and brigades in Syria, who issued support
statements for me after the (legally invalid) dismissal resolution.
The
free Syrian army regained its prestige after its latest fights against ISIS,
and what they really need are arms and ammunition becausethey alreadyhave
people’s love and support. By Abdullah Raja;Translation by Dani Murad
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