In interview with ToI, a Free Syrian Army officer expresses hope for friendly relations with Jewish state, warns of Iranian militias propping up Assad: ‘They will come for Israel, too’

The commander interviewed by The Times of Israel participated in the recent seizure of Aleppo and his troops are now fighting government forces, Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in the area, and pushing south.

The rebel leader, in his early 60s, agreed to be interviewed by phone on condition of anonymity and spoke of the objectives of the ongoing campaign, his vision for the future of Syria and relations with Israel, and the role the Jewish state can play, in his view, in support of the rebels.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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    19 days ago

    Assad is 100% a super bad. But the rebels are ex Al Qaeda and ISIS.

    That makes a lot more sense when you consider that many of these grew from militants fighting the US invasion of Iraq, so of course they were involved with Al Qaeda and ISIS (less ISIS because they’re ISIS), who were also fighting the US invasion in Iraq. “Former Al Qaeda” says literally nothing about the people involved here other than they’re maybe Islamist. “Al Qaeda” isn’t a bad word that destroys anything it touches. Also you say backstab like Assad was acting for the good of Syria (or literally anyone other than himself), but this man is/was hated by most of Syria and the Arab world. Why you want anyone to tolerate him because he’s doing one good thing I have no idea, but to the people being oppressed by that bastard they can’t just tiddle their thumbs until he finishes liberating Palestine (hint: He wasn’t going to do that, because he was too busy committing warcrimes against his own people).

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOP
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      18 days ago

      Because the big war with Israel is going on. If the rebels do not stand up to Israel then Syria will suffer the same fate as Libya in the future. And subsequently be annexed into Greater Israel.

      Furthermore it will make everyone more wary to help the Palestinians, knowing there are people who will take advantage of their weakened forces if they join the war.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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        18 days ago

        Uh… This is Syria, not Libya.

        If the rebels do not stand up to Israel then Libya will suffer the same fate as Palestine in the future.

        They can stand up to Israel themselves, without having to get tortured in prison camps to satisfy Assad’s whims. I’m not sure what-centric this way of thinking is, but to Syrians the big war is the one they’ve been fighting for 14 years against Assad-backed Russia.

        knowing there are people who will take advantage of their weakened forces if they join the war.

        Only if they have a civil war going on. Also Assad didn’t join any wars (again, too busy committing war crimes against his own people), so the only lesson here is “don’t oppress your people so bad they fight you for fourteen years”. If anything, Palestinians could find themselves with a new ally depending on how the new government turns out.

        • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOP
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          18 days ago

          Sorry I lost myself in the sentence. Meant Syria will suffer the same fate as Libya.

          Assad was transporting Iranian weapons to Lebanon against Israel. It would be amazing if the new Syrian government fought against Israel but so far no single word about Palestine from them.