Stormy meeting between Col. Oqaidi and Opposition government

Translation by Yusra Ahmed

ALEPPO (Zaman Alwasl)- Former leader of Aleppo military council launched Thursday a scathing  criticism against the feeble stand of opposition Interim government over the ongoing battles in Aleppo, sources told Zaman Alwasl.

Colonel Abdul Jabbar Al-Oqaidi met with Mr. Ahmed Toumeh, the government leader and other ministers, in unexpected visit to the government headquarters in rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

Al-Oqaidi has urged the opposition ministers for more concrete steps to support rebels in their battles with Bashar al-Assad’s forces, saying losing the battle of Aleppo means no role the government can play in the future and any effort after that will be worthless.

The source mentioned that ministers’ reaction for the stormy visit was too cold and humble and kept repeating the same known statement like, “there is no sources, the international community does not want to support us” and when the Colonel demanded them to stand and tell Syrian people the real situation, better than that fake position, they refused and said that what regime wanted that, and any statement and explanation for the real situation will only help the regime.

That attitude forced Al-Qaidi to leave the building.

The source revealed that Toumeh took few minutes to absorb what had happened.

Some reports mentioned that Al-Oqaidi is not very much supported in Jarba’s group in the Coalition and there have been many attempts to exclude him from military decision, which encourage him to increase his power in Aleppo in attempts to unite the military forces within one strong armed body to be able to face attempts to separate the revolutionary forces to serve regional interest only.

Al-Oqaidi’s attitude has followed the Minister of Defence, Asaad Mostafa’s resignation because he felt that rebels were let down and they were not supplied with needed arms to help them survive.

Moreover, Al-Oqaidi’s outraged attitude came after news confirming that Syrian regime managed to break Aleppo’s prison siege, after 13 months odd siege by the rebels.