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"Our Goal is to Overthrow Assad Regime"

2024.12.06, 14:02
"Our Goal is to Overthrow Assad Regime"

The goal of Syria’s rebel coalition, as it wrests another major city from government control this week, is ultimately to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the militant leader of the main group driving the country’s armed opposition.

Gunaz.tv

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Jolani left no doubt that the ambitions of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) – a group that was formed out of a former al Qaeda affiliate – are nothing less than bringing an end to the Assad regime. In his first sit-down media interview in years, at an undisclosed location in Syria, he spoke about plans to create a government based on institutions and a “council chosen by the people.”

“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” said Jolani.

“The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it… the Iranians attempted to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to prop it up. But the truth remains: this regime is dead.”

On Thursday, Jolani projected a different vision for the war-torn country. In a sign of his attempted rebranding, he also publicly used his real name for the first time – Ahmed al-Sharaa – instead of the nom de guerre by which he is widely known.

 

Syrian anti government fighters cheer as they ride a military vehicle through the streets of the west-central city of Hama on December 5, 2024. Islamist-led rebels captured the central Syrian city of Hama on December 5, days after seizing the country's commercial hub Aleppo in a lightning offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's forces. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP) (Photo by ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP via Getty Images)

 

As the rebel coalition’s military advances expand the territory and population under their control, Jolani insisted that civilians had little to fear in the management of rebel-held areas of Syria. “People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly,” he claimed.

If opposition forces succeed in toppling Assad’s regime, it will transition into “a state of governance, institutions and so on,” he envisioned.

The group said it is working to reassure civilians and groups that suffered persecution at the hands of extremist and jihadist groups in Syria’s decade-long civil war. It also said it has gone out of its way to publicly tell Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities that they will live safely under its rule.

“There were some violations against them [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” Jolani said when asked about concerns for their safety.

“No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,” he said.

 

 

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