Hassan Abboud, head of the political body of the Islamic Front, speaks to Orient TV about the revolutionary covenant

Link of the video in Arabic: http://t.co/ZsOeLVsxd9

 

Q: Some say that you changed your goal from “a Nations’ Project” to “a Civil State”, what is your purpose of this Sheikh Hassan Abboud?

A: In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful and the All-Compassionate

We issued a covenant that includes the ideals and principles that most of the active groups on ground have agreed upon, but each of the groups which signed the covenant has its own political aim. We offered a bundle of the accepted principles among the signing groups but we never spoke of the type of the future State in Syria; we did not say that we want it in the type you mentioned. We agree that we want a state of justice, a state of law, and a state of freedom.

We do not accept any sort of pressure or dictations imposed upon us. We, as Syrian people, are capable of achieving the revolution’s objectives by our mutual understanding and by the positive interaction between ourselves.

The bond that the revolution had in the beginning should return to it now, the bond that was corrupted by some external interventions and internal practices carried out by some people. We must be cooperating in one entity in order to put an end to the troubles and distress of our people.

Q: What do you answer those who say that the purpose of this change- from “A Nation’s Project” to a “Civil State”- is to get American support, especially because the covenant came after the visit of Ahmad Al-Jarba to Obama, and do you seek to relieve the minorities’ worries just as Al-Jarba relieved the American worries?

No, not at all; we took the action because the ground needs this unity and cooperation between the various groups. As we said, we want to deprive the Assad regime from the card that it uses to defame our revolution by saying false accusations. This revolution was moral from the first day; it targeted the regime and all its allies regardless of the sects or race they belong to. We will not target a certain group or sect. When we issued this covenant we did not seek the contentment of others or seek to get weapons or support; the purpose of the covenant is to restore the bond to our revolution and to advance together with the other groups towards our aims.

Q: Was there any kind of coordination between you and the Syrian Coalition concerning this covenant?

No. We coordinated with the groups on the ground, and started with those who share us the goals and principles: Jaish Al-Mujahideen, Ajnad Al-Sham Islamic Union, Failaq Al-Sham, and Alweiat Al-Furqan; and we will not stop here. We are ready to cooperate with all the honorable groups in this self-made revolution.

As for your question if we seek support, we will not beg others for support, but also we will not be closed to ourselves. We welcome any positive interaction that serves our revolution and save the blood of our innocents and put an end to this distress from any regional or international side.

Q: In the past, you avoided considering ISIS an enemy despite the clashes with it: they murdered and kidnapped several of your members. Is this covenant related to Al-Zawahiri’s attitude and to Al-Qaeda?

No; just as we declared three years ago, we are not subordinated to any organization, party or group. As for this criminal gang (ISIS), the gang that shed the blood of our people, we were the group that received the most of traitorous stabs from it. The people on the ground know that –even if this was not published on the media- we were among the first to fight this gang on the soil of the different cities of Syria. We did not publish this on the media because we did not want this fighting to appear as internal fighting among the rebels, especially because the picture was not clear to most of the people that this planted gang on the liberated areas works for the Assad regime and for the Iranian intelligence offices. This gang was equipped with the thoughts of Kharijites, radicalism and  takfeer, which have badly affected the revolution and hindered its advance since the last year.

What happened now to reassure the nationalism of the conflict and set aside the foreign elements? Could you clarify the reasons?

This revolution belongs to the Syrians in the first place. But a number of aggressive groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran reached Syria to help the Assad regime. Then, as a result of this, a number of honorable people who watched the aggression against us on TVs came to support the oppressed people in Syria. But after that these arrivals were deceived by the gang of Al-Baghdadi (ISIS) so they joined it.

We asserted that the Syrian people are the only component of the revolution; and as for the others who came to help us, we praise that in them and thank the ones who really helped the Syrian people. We will remember their kindness and favor, but we ask all the people outside Syria and prepare themselves to come and help to wait and think well; we say to them: you will be a victim of those who deceive the arrivals; you will be the material and tool of killing the Syrian people. Wait and do not come; we do not lack fighters, the lack is in the war machine and not in the ones who use it.

The revolutionary covenant is not a declaration of war against those who came to Syria and did nothing wrong. But those who came to Syria and joined the gang of Al-Baghdadi will be definitely treated the same as it.

Q: The covenant did not include the signature of Hazm Movement, or Syria Revolutionaries Front, why?

We will interact with all the groups on the ground and invite them to sign on the covenant if they are convinced by the principles and goals of the it, and are ready to cooperate with the other groups in order to speed up toppling the regime.

 

Q: Is this new position a relieving message to the countries that support you and to the international community as well?

It is a message to all those who want to end the suffering of our people; it is a message to all those who want to take a step on the way of bringing the current oppression to an end.

It is time for the human inclination in the people’s hearts to stir and take a step towards the right way. We see the world watching the Assad barrel bombs, chemical weapons and chlorine gases until this scene became normal, agitates no surprise, and the only action is condemnation. Some leaders spoke of red lines, and some said that they will not remain silent if massacres occur, but all of this was just slogans for consumption; we did not find on the ground actual deeds that speed up the salvation for our people.