Rebels’ Joint Chief of Staff to reconstruct, reform ranks: Officer

 (Reporting by Cham Mohamed; Translation by Yusra Ahmed)

A well informed source from the Joint Chief of Staff of Free Syrian Army, denied all accusations and rumors against the Army Staff, which have been circulated over the revolution’s coordination bodies and media. In his statement he said: “who target or attack the Army Staff, aims to fail and damage the revolution, as the success of the military institution is the stepping stone for the revolution winning and victory, no doubt all target us and want to fail us”

The source spoke on condition of anonymity fear of hurting his family back in Hama’s countryside in Syria, despite he lives in the Staff headquarter at the Syrian-Turkish borders.

In regard to the collective resignations of the military councils, he commented saying: “they accused us of lack of support to all the fighting fronts, that is not true, we are building a new Army Staff from scratch, as the previous leadership had destroyed the military institution and thrown hundreds of defected soldiers and sergeants in street, they live in camps or find no place to go or a job to do, despite their experience, all that because the old military leadership was only bully and keen to appear on media and TV channels, we requested to activate soldiers and sergeants on ground, otherwise their defection would be useless. We have not rejected any request and fulfilled them as far as we could, however, when leaders demanded unbelievably huge amount of money then go and say we do not support, its another matter”.

The leader revealed that Ahrar al-Sham Movement had occupied the Army Staff building many times, and denied access to the. “do they want the revolution to win?” he wondered.

He added that the movement had withdrawn from Kasab without coordination with the headquarter, and demanded them to provide a report to show reasons behind that withdrawal”

The Colonel added in his statement to Zaman Alwasl that many leaders put plans on ground in battle field, but they did not abide by them after receiving the fund. He confirmed that happened in Aleppo’s countryside in particular, He mentioned that the private agendas were stronger that any national one.

The Colonel requested to search for properties owned by leaders and confirmed that most of them have housed in Gaziantep and Mersin. He requested anyone have a proof against the Army Staff, to come forward and distribute it.

The source explained that a new structure for the military Institution is going to be applied, as the military councils in the liberated areas will be cancelled and replace by a Common Operation Room associated with the Main Operation Room in the Army Staff, to observe the arrival of the arms and support to each section. He revealed that who works more, and have the most effects on ground, would received more support. The Colonel aims to prevent or minimize theft as much as possible, by the close cooperation between the Main and the subsidiary operation rooms.

He confirmed that the military councils had done nothing at all. He revealed that they supported Aleppo's front with USD one million handed to Abdel Salam Hamidi, and Ahmed Berri received USD 150 thousand, while all victory in Dara’a and its countryside, Homs’s Northern Countryside were by coordination with al-Nusra front, as they were only a part of the operation, and were there, and who says against that, gives evidence that he does not know what happens on ground.