Civil war threat in Syria myth: dissident
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
Dr. Bassam al-Imadi, leader of a group claiming to represent the majority of the opposition movements inside Syria and calling itself “Al-Leqaa” has said there is no “civil war threat” inside Syria and the revolutionaries’ groups include all sorts of ethnic and religious groups including the Alawites.
“The civil war threat in Syria is a myth created by the people who are happy with the idea of the regime staying in power,” al-Imadi told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview Dec. 16.
Al-Imadi, who left Damascus 10 days ago, has said he has been working underground with Syrian dissidents since June and he has been directing the revolutionaries’ groups with his political and strategically advice.
Al-Imadi said there are all sorts of ethnic and religious groups amongst the opposition forces and they do not differentiate the opposition groups according to their ethnic or religious differences.
“Sectarianism only exists in the political regime in Syria,” al-Imadi said.
Al-Imadi also said the protesters will not go back home. “Because, after all, going back home now is committing suicide, this brutality would lead to massacres if people give up protests and go back home.”
Al- Leqaa announced its unity with the Syrian National Council (SNC) Dec. 15.
SNC Congress in Tunis
Meanwhile, the SNC will hold a three-day congress in Tunis Dec. 16 to 18 in which al-Imadi is also expected to attend. Burhan Ghalioun, head of the SNC, said the congress in Tunisia was aimed at “harmonizing and structuring the opposition in order to end the daily bloodbath perpetrated by the criminal regime,” Agence France-Presse reported.
The Syrian opposition needs to close ranks and organize in order to topple President Bashar al-Assad, Ghalioun said Dec. 15, ahead of the three-day meeting in Tunis, “We need to unite the opposition and make it stronger. We need to emerge from this congress with a higher level of organization, clearer targets and more momentum.”