Interview with Abu Kamil Saleh Hasan of Jabal al-Summaq: An Open Message to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham
[Update 23 June 2022: this interview has unfortunately had to be redacted on the subject of ‘muhajireen’- or ‘foreigners’- in Jabal al-Summaq. Regrettably, a sincere call of advice and expression of reasonable opinion appeared to be too much for some].
Introduction
Since the early days of the war in Syria, one of the most enduring issues that has plagued the minds of those concerned about the fate of the opposition and opposition/rebel-held areas in Syria has been the leading role and status of Jabhat al-Nusra (“The Support Front”) and its successor organisations, currently embodied in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (“Commission for the Liberation of al-Sham”). Jabhat al-Nusra and its successors became leading players in the insurgency from the earliest days, and now Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is the organisation that effectively controls the rebel-held parts of Idlib and its environs.
Over the years, much outside discourse about Syria and Syria policy became focused on ‘counter-terrorism’ (i.e. combating jihadists, whether Islamic State, al-Qa’ida or other groups) and so by extension how to undermine and dismantle Jabhat al-Nusra and its successors. Much of this discourse was very unrealistic and often took the form of ‘support the more moderate groups as a counter-balance,’ based on the idea that those groups were some kind of ‘counter-terrorism force.’ In reality, these groups ultimately did little more than enable Jabhat al-Nusra and its successors, such as by playing second fiddle in offensives spearheaded by jihadists. These policy suggestions and similar policies that call for somehow undermining Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s rule in Idlib and its environs (e.g. by calling for the groups of the ‘Syrian National Army’ to displace Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or for Turkey to dismantle Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or for communication campaigns to promote ‘counter-narrative’ against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) should be laid to rest.
Instead, assuming that the current effective ceasefire holds for northwest Syria for the foreseeable future, I believe the focus should be on trying to better the lot of people living under Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s rule in whatever way is realistically people, and calling on and pressuring the group to change its own policies in a way that can make the group more acceptable for engagement. After all, some kind of international acceptance is what the group is striving for. These calls and pressures should not take the form of ‘Hay’a bashing’ (by which I mean solely being critical the group at every opportunity simply to insist that it be given pariah status as a ‘terrorist’ group with no way out), but rather should look realistically at what Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham can and should do. Thus, when Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham takes those realistic positive steps, those actions should be commended and encouraged.
One of the areas in which I believe Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham can and should take steps towards reform is the group’s treatment of the remaining original inhabitants of Jabal al-Summaq, who are Druze and were made to declare conversion to Sunni Islam in 2015 by Jabhat al-Nusra’s official in the area (then Abd al-Rahman al-Tunisi, also responsible for the subsequent Qalb Lawze massacre) with destruction of shrines. Recently of course, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s leader Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani appeared in an official video meeting with notables of the remaining local inhabitants, as part of the inauguration of a new water well. One of those notables who spoke to Jowlani in the video was Abu Kamil Saleh Hasan, who is today’s interviewee. Of the Jabal al-Summaq village of Halla, Abu Kamil is a proud opposition figure and supporter of the idea of the Syrian revolution. While he has commended Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham for its work in cracking down on crime and drug-dealing as well as establishing a sense of order, this does not mean that he does not believe that there are no grievances left to be addressed for the people of Jabal al-Summaq. It is here in this interview that he seeks to highlight what those grievances are and publicly call on Jowlani and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham to address them. I too add my voice to his in calling on Jowlani and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham to listen to and address those grievances.
I should make clear, and Abu Kamil would agree, that this interview is not intended as an attack on Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. It is simply raising grievances in an entirely fair manner and offering the group sincere advice on what to rectify. Some may question the decision to publish this interview with open identification for the interviewee, but I believe the true test of political maturity for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham comes when grievances and voices are raised in an open way in this format. If Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham or others were to try to take reprisal actions for this interview, it will be a huge shame and stigma upon them. Sincere engagement and earnestness involve accepting these pronouncements and listening to them.
In any case, is there also not more chance of the grievances being addressed when the interviewee is identified, as opposed to the quoting of anonymous sources, whom Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s leaders may dismiss as having no credibility?
In short, these grievances relate to confiscation of homes, the barring of the right to grant inheritance to children [redacted]. In addition, the group should recognise the Jabal al-Summaq community’s right to its own traditions and customs as original Druze.
I join Abu Kamil and openly call on Jowlani and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its Salvation Government to work to address these grievances and better the lot of the people of Jabal al-Summaq. Hence also I am making this interview open access and wish for it to be conveyed to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
Below is the interview I conducted with Abu Kamil transcribed in full. It was conducted on 17 June. It is edited and condensed for clarity with typos cleaned up from transcribing and translating. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
Interview
Q: Can you speak in a condensed sense about your life before the revolution? For example you are from the village of Halla in Jabal al-Summaq. What were you doing before the revolution, and were you participating in political activities before the revolution?
A: I am a man born in 1954. I worked in contracting in the construction business. I travelled to Libya and remained there for around 20 years, and I am now living in my town and I work as a farmer. Idlib province is known for growing of olive trees. I am not a political man, and I don’t like politics, because politics means lying, deception and corruption where man’s interests require, and there is nothing in it called ethics. I am a man of revolution, a man of this people, of this human race on planet Earth whom God- Exalted and Almighty is He- created, and for whose sake He created everything including the earth’s animals, trees, seas, mountains and plains, and He made man master of them upon the earth.
We undertook this revolution for a reason and not for love of problems, killing, and corruption: rather to remove grievances, because the regime that rules Syria is a regime that is sectarian, dictatorial, oppressive and thieving par excellence. By God there is no young person in Syria able to secure his future so long as he does not travel to the Gulf states or Libya or the countries of Europe, because this regime drowns us in oppressive taxes, oppression, subjugation and beating, for its jail cells are filled with our sons without rightful justification. The citizen in this land, in the shade of this sectarian and tyrannical regime, cannot speak except about himself.
Q: How was life in Jabal al-Summaq before the revolution? I mean in terms of services for example, the humanitarian situation, the economic situation. Were there many visitors or tourists in the Jabal al-Summaq area? Was there a degree of economic marginalisation?
A: Life in Jabal al-Summaq is emblematic of an agricultural area. We plant wheat, and our lands are mostly mountainous and difficult, but our reliance is on God first and then on the olive trees, for the olive tree- may God bless it- is mentioned eight times in the Qur’an, but it is a tree that is very difficult to invest in. It ripens in the winter and its fruits are small, and it requires torturous labour and working hands and expenses. This is with regards to what our people do in Jabal al-Summaq. As for the material circumstances, the income does not at all match with consumption, for three-quarters of our youth before the events of the revolution used to go to the state of Lebanon, and work in all labouring occupations like laying of tiles and laying of concrete. Lebanon is a country with a democratic regime and is open to all of the world, and in it is much wealth. So the youth would go there, work four or five months, secure the costs of his household and family, and if he wanted to build a home in case he did not own a home, or if he wanted to get married etc. This is the economic situation and what the people of Jabal al-Summaq do.
As for the humanitarian situation, we are in Syria and in general I do not speak about Jabal al-Summaq, because we are an indivisible part of Syria and the Syrian people on the face of the Earth. Our life is ordinary like others besides it: every area has different customs and traditions. We are connected by good social customs: we go, we go out, we make friends, we marry off our children, and such is our life. As for tourism, our area is a lacking area: not only in terms of tourism but also in all means of services provision and income provision for man, for the reason is that the state does not provide services for all the people in the Arab homeland. The state is a manifestation of one that encompasses itself. For it has transformed the Syria of Arabness from the integral society into a people occupied by oppression, servitude and subjugation. For they turned beloved Syria into Assad’s Syria, and in particular with regards to my province: the province of Idlib. For when the president of the republic known as Hafez al-Assad carried out his coup against the president Amin al-Hafez, he executed the officers who supported the president Amin al-Hafez, and the president Amin al-Hafez was a good man of elevated morals.
But Hafez seized rule by force, placed lines in the Syrian constitution on the basis that he would turn the Syrian citizen into a weak citizen and make him run behind him to implement his desires and so that he should not rebel against his rulers, and in particular the governor of Idlib. When Hafez al-Assad received the presidency and began going around the provinces till he came to our province, this living people in our province knew the circumstances of the conspiracy that Hafez al-Assad enacted against the previous president of the republic Amin al-Hafez and his officer. So there was the military intelligence building, so when Hafez al-Assad came and gathered the people to listen to him, they struck him with shoes- may God ennoble you. From that time, the regime was angry against Idlib province so it transferred the economic institutions and services away from Idlib province, for we have no dams or industrial factories. Even the highway lines for Latakia province and Aleppo, they turned them away. Also the railway line that passes from the provinces of Latakia, Aleppo and al-Qamishli, they turned it away as punishment for the fact that they hit him with shoes.
Q: When the demonstrations broke out in Syria at the beginning of the revolution, what was the position of the people of Jabal al-Summaq on the demonstrations? Did most of the people of the Jabal support the demonstrations and participate? Or was there rejection of participating in the demonstrations? Were there demonstrations in Jabal al-Summaq?
A: The revolution broke out in 2011 and we are now in the year 2022, so 11 years have passed. The revolution did not break out on the Syrian lands and the people did not rise up except as a result of the oppression, subjugation, tyranny, marginalisation and lack of securing of livelihood opportunities and employment for the people, and the barbaric treatment in the prisons and courts. The revolution broke out from heroic Deraa in southern Syria and moved to us in the north of Syria in Idlib province. We- the people of Jabal al-Summaq in particular- and not only we, but also Syria as a whole: we do not have sectarianism, for we are all under the roof of the homeland, as we work to raise the shouts of this homeland and develop it.
This sectarianism was strung by the regime to divide this homeland, for the Syrian people rose up against their oppressor: the tyrannical regime, and they did do as Christian, Muslim, Shi’i, and Alawi- patriotic people of course, as did the people of Tawheed [Druze] and of all the madhhabs. We the people of Jabal al-Summaq are all in heart and mind with the revolution and we are still so, and we will remain with the revolution in opposition, not against the president as a person and not against the president in terms of his religious affiliation, but against the president because he does not care for the interests of the people. It is not important who you are when you rule, not what you worship. Religion is for God and the homeland is for all. The important thing is that when you rule this people, you should be their master and thus care for their interests, protect their security and hopes, and protect their soil.
So yesterday the aircraft of the Zionist enemy penetrated the sky of our dear land and destroyed for us the greatest economic facility- namely, Damascus International Airport. This is something that pains us- the Syrian people- because this is an international economic facility that connects us with the world. So oh, Mr. President Bashar al-Assad, if you cannot protect your sky and land, get off the seat, for there are people more entitled than you to this seat, for they are able and worthy of protecting the land of the homeland so its sky should be protected from any penetration and attack. For every now and then Israel strikes us, so where is this president who should protect us? Is it logical that you should not defend your land, homeland institutions, dignity, and sovereignty as well?
We, the people of Jabal al-Summaq, alongside our brothers of all the Syrian soil from the east of Syria to its west, from its north to its south: we all raised our voice high against oppression, subjugation, marginalisation, colonisation, the tyrannical taxes, the oppressive intelligence system. As the people of Jabal al-Summaq, we may not have engaged in demonstrating, but we are a social group not exceeding 4000 or 5000 citizens. I do not speak in terms of sectarianism, for we have special customs and traditions, but by God three quarters of our youth, had they not been working outside, poverty would have been killing them. We did not go out in demonstrations, but also I have men, and when Idlib fell, we entered with our rifles upon the branches of the Military and Poliical Security in Idlib: I and my group from the Bani Mar’ouf in Idlib of Jabal al-Summaq along with our Sunni brothers and all the Syrian components. If our participation in the revolution was little, it is because we are few people and bad material circumstances prevail over us, so most of our youth work outside to secure livelihood, because there are no job. When you finish university, you find no job.
Q: Of course, the revolution turned into an armed uprising represented first by the Free Army, then afterwards the Islamic groups rose, and currently we can say that the Islamic group called Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham rules Idlib and its environs. In general, was this turn to militarisation of the revolution a mistake or was it something necessary? And currently how do you assess the situation in Idlib and its environs under the Salvation Government and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham?
A: Yes, when the revolution rose up in its beginning and in all the lands of Syria, beginning from Deraa of the south to the north, we in Idlib had an uprising of the people demanding their freedom and rights they had had taken away from them for 42 years, and the chant was “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one.” There was no so-called Shi’i, Christian, Tawhidi [Druze] etc. The chant was “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one,” undertaking their revolution against an oppressive dictatorial regime and thieves who stole our assets, stole our oil and our economy, and drowned us in oppressive taxes, and filled its prisons and jail cells with our sons, and imposed on us this criminal party: the Ba’ath Party, which humiliated the noble of this Ummah and made mighty the depraved and lowly ones of it. So the revolution of this people arose and it was called the Syrian Revolution. There were no other names like Ahrar al-Sham, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Salvation, Free Army. And in this stage, the revolution seized control of 80% of the Syrian lands and we seized control of military positions including military bases, bases of installations and warehouses of weapons. The regime was defeated and the revolution was victorious and we seized 80% of the Syrian lands. This one called Bashar al-Assad, Russia hid him on a ship in the sea for four months, and he was not seen by the Syrian media.
But there was a conspiracy devised against this revolution when the world, which does not want victory for us, saw that this people tore the ranks of an army that had 40 years of preparation by its leader to subjugate this people, not to protect them, and to tear apart this homeland, not to realise its unity. So when the force of colonialism, represented in global Zionism, and America saw that this people rising up against their oppressor had seized 80% of the Syrian lands, and that the chants had turned from “With soul, with blood, we sacrifice for you oh Bashar” to “One, one, one, the Syrian people are one” as we are in need of a patriotic noble leader who can lead us and protect our sky such that the one who attacks and penetrates our sky, he should penetrate his heart and protect the borders of our land: so when they saw that this people who rose up and possessed this heroism and courage with meagre and traditional weapons like a hunting rifle or a Russian rifle etc., had torn the ranks of this army, they saw that they had no power to stand against this mighty powerful people, because the regime present is a collaborator regime par excellence.
Back in the Tishreen War [October 1973], it was defeated and sold the Golan to the Zionist entity for $40,000 in exchange for signing agreements with the Zionist entity, stipulating that if a penetration or war should occur with Israel, the Syrian regime would pay the cost of the war, for our regime is a collaborationist one, guarding the borders of the Zionist entity, receiving strikes but not repelling them. When they saw that this people wanted to remove the regime and that this people’s men wanted to rule this land, they said that the Zionist entity would be at risk, especially as we have rights against the Zionist entity: this entity is a filthy usurper and transgressor, occupying part of our land: the Golan. It also occupies the sister country of Palestine and tramples on our holy sites and enters and abuses worshippers in al-Aqsa, so when we get hold of our political decision-making and liberate our land from this collaborationist traitorous regime, of course we will say: “Where is our Golan? [We will liberate it] by the permission of God, sooner or later.” We will also say: “Where is our Aqsa, where is our Palestine?”
So when this situation arose, they took consideration and advised the regime: there is terrorism in your presence, and it is of your right to defend yourself. So they sought help in the mercenaries who came from outside, for here are true mujahideen, while there are hired mercenaries sent by America, Russia, Iran and the Zionists to thwart this revolution.
As for Hay’at ahrir al-Sham, in its beginning it lacked good conduct and behaviour comporting with the revolution, for it put pressure on the revolution and the leaders of he revolution embodied in the Free Army, from which some joined them, some fled outside, and some were assassinated. In the end- we do not want to prolong the explanation- it seized control of the sources of authority and particularly in Idlib province: this noble province, our province that the arms of our sons liberated from the regime of the criminal tyrant, as he and his snakes were routed from it.
In the beginning Jabhat al-Nusra had issues with the conduct of some members, but there are leaders in it who are patriotic, noble and fighters and mujahideen, and we stood alongside them in the trenches of fighting when we liberated, but there are people from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham who abused the citizen, which made the people and the popular covering around this institution become a little distant from it. As for now, in the stage we have reached, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham embodied in the Salvation Government is to be thanked, as it has restricted weapons, because weapons had fallen into the hands of all who could bear arms, those who wanted to engage in highway robbery bore arms, and those who wanted to implement private interests before arms, and those who wanted to engage in business and act as brokers, bore arms and whoso wanted to engage in smuggling, bore arms. But Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham- embodied in the Salvation Government, came and united the ranks and paralysed the activity of people who use arms in illegitimate ways that are not in the interest of the revolution or the interest of the jihad. It has confined weapons in the hands of those to whom the security of the province has been entrusted, and so Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the Salvation government are to be thanked as they have worked hard to suppress theft, highwaymen and thieves, drug-dealers, as well as place them in the prisons. They have also built police centres and established patrols, so if you are attacked, or subject to theft or there is an attack on your home, you can go to the police centres and present a complaint and they will give you your right by the permission of God. So with regards to me, I am in the end content with their behaviour, as it does no go beyond the limits.
Q: Of course when Hay’at Tahrri al-Sham was Jabhat al-Nusra can we say that there were grievances among the people of Jabal al-Summaq, and now matters have improved and they have removed oppression? For example there were complaints about confiscation of homes but has the Hay’a restored homes to heir owners especially those absent from the region and those who work outside the region? Can we say that the situation now in Idlib is better for example than the situation in the areas of Euphrates Shield under the control of the factions linked to Turkey?
A: Yes, when Jabhat al-Nusra first arose, there were grievances and there were actions and arrogant conduct being done in the areas it controls, not only against us in Jabal al-Summaq, but against all the areas it controlled, as they were distinguished by arrogance, violence, oppression and the like. In particular, for us the people of Jabal al-Summaq, there were members of them [like this]- I do not say all of Jabhat al-Nusra, as there are also Islamic believing leaders, truly pious, honest and coming to wage jihad- but there was also penetration of all the fighting factions by sectarian people, thieves and deviants who infiltrated to the ranks of the revolution and penetrated all the factions, and there were people of this sort in Jabhat al-Nusra, who extended their dividing hands onto the locality of Qalb Lawze- which is one of the villages of Jabal al-Summaq- and they took the lives of 23 innocent civilians who were not bearing arms, did not oppose them, did not rise against them and took no negative position towards the revolution or Jabhat al-Nusra. This behaviour is emblematic of terrorist, sectarian criminal action in every meaning of the word.
We condemned this behaviour and we raised our voice high, and the al-Jazeera team came to me personally. I raised my voice high and I spoke with Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani directly and said to him: this is action that does not accord or correspond with Islamic values and the Islamic Shari’a, as we are the Muwahhidun Druze who are called the Bani Ma’rouf. We are an indivisible part regardless of the regime or anyone else. We are an indivisible part- I do not wish to speak in terms of sectarianism, for I love humanity and the Syrian people, who are a people of the Muhammadan Islamic Ummah as our homeland has 23 million citizens with 18 million of the Ummah of Muhammad of Islam. We are an indivisible part of it: their enemy is our enemy, their friend is our friend. So if they are joyful, we are joyful, and if they are humiliated, we are humiliated. We are with them in heart and mind and we have what they have, and for what is upon them is upon us. Therefore we raised our voice and said this is oppression.
As for the recent time known as yesterday, not far from us, around a week ago or a little more, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani showed kindness to us and issued a call to the people of Jabal al-Summaq, and I was one of those present and I stood in front of him and asked him to remove the grievances from us and I thanked him first for suppressing thefts, and highwaymen and drug-dealers and those who disturb the citizen’s security, and for putting them in the jails. Then I thanked him for the work he did in the town of Qalb Lawze for they dug a groundwater well, then I asked him to remove the grievances, and among them the real-estate. I said to him there are people who have gone and we have nothing to do with hem. As for those who remain here, I have my father’s house: is it not of my right to dwell in it? Is it of the right of a man coming from the outside to remove the door and swell in it, or the house of my brother or uncle? Is livelihood provision not of my right as I believe in God, all the heavenly books, and all the constitutions and law? For every son inherits from his father, but we the people of Jabal al-Summaq, they have prevented us from doing so: for example if I want to go to the real estate registry office in order to waive my livelihood provision to sons and register it in their names. I said to him: this is oppression against us, and I ask you to remove the grievances from us as God Almighty has said: “I have forbidden oppression against Myself, so I have made it forbidden among you, so do not oppress.” I do not wish to make the one who has gone inherit. I wish to make my son present here inherit. Is this not of my right? Is not my father’s house of my right as well? When this man dies, you take his wealth and provision and his son remains without anything. So I made a demand of him and I spoke with the sheikh who is the director of the region (of course he was present), and after Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani went away, I met for around an hour or more with the security officials in the village of Qourqania and with the region director, and we discussed all these matters like real estate and livelihood provision etc.
We asked for services, for we have schools in which some of the displaced people live and our children have remained without education. We asked for many things, and his [Jowlani’s] response was positive and ethical. We have four missing people who went missing through oppression and transgression, and I also requested him for the right of the village of Qalb Lawze when the transgression happened among them. He said to me: this is a thing of the past I had no role in, and you have heard what happened to the perpetrator of the Qalb Lawze crime. He obtained a punishment and his fate was vile death, and praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds who has placed our matter and our sacrosanctity in His hand and has said: “Something still does not move except by God’s command.” We accept being oppressed and we are not content with being oppressors, because God is with the oppressed.
In the current stage now, Jabhat al-Nusra is open to the people, for it has reduced the pressure of the checkpoints and it has reduced the inspection as well as having reduced the harsh actions that it used to engage in before, so we thank it and the Salvation Government in the liberated areas here and in Idlib province in particular, because it deals with people with all ethics and humbleness. I, through your platform, demand Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani and the Salvation Government to hurry to implement what must be implemented to remove the grievances from us here in Jabal al-Summaq and in Idlib province and all the areas that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the Salvation Government control. We hope from them that they will be as God has wanted the Muslim believer to be: that he should apply God’s law and not exceed the limits of God, and that they should deal with the people as wholly being equals, such that the oppressed should obtain his right entirely and the oppression should obtain his punishment. So through your platform, I asked that they should hurry to restore the real estate to their owners and to hurry to remove the prohibition on our selling and buying of our property, in particular for those of us who have remained in our land, so that we can make them free for our children, and this is a legitimate right for us in heaven and on earth.
Q: [Redacted]. Also, there is the issue of the classification of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham on the international terrorism list. In your opinion should the international community remove Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from these lists?
A: [Redacted]
As for labelling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham with criminality or with terrorism, this is an international conflict and these are international decisions that the Security Council and the five permanent member states adopt. Those states are distinguished by arrogance, racism and monopolisation of decision-making. The United Nations only represents the people who give orders upon it. As for the people who demand their rights with objectivity in the United Nations and their demands and the papers they write, they end up going in the trash.
So this is an international decision, and it is not in our hands that we should decide that they are terrorists or not. As for what we have seen on the ground and what is implemented on the ground. In reality, in the beginning they engaged in all kinds of imposition of themselves, oppression and terrorism against the areas they seized, in particular our province, the province of Idlib, even from south Syria to here. As for now, the view and their conduct have changed, and they have extirpated the defects and the terrorists and the parasitic people among them, and they have preserved the best people who adopt an Islamic, jihadist, ethical, humanitarian program. So for me, and as a representative for the opposition, however it opposes falsehood, and however falsehood is, I in the current time am content with their behaviour because it does not show they are terrorists, for they do not deserve [this label] and they do not oppress. There are some things that they have implemented.
Q: May God reward you best brother Abu Kamil. You speak with all frankness for you are a respected man and I respect this frankness and your free voice. This interview is important so that I may raise the voice of the people of Jabal al-Summaq and direct a message through your words to the leadership of the Hay’a publicly, so that they may remove the grievances that have remained. Thank you.
A: No, thank you for an obligation, brother Aymenn. I await you at any time to raise the word of truth and the revolution. I say to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham through our conversation as well as to the Salvation Government, Free Army and to every noble opposition person who has raised his voice against this regime: remove the grievances from us to restore our legitimate rights and protect our homeland from the dividing attacks that the loathsome Zionist entity and the Iranian entity engage in against us. I say to them: we are with you. And in my name, Jabal al-Summaq and all its men, we are side by side with you in the trenches of the struggle and the jihad until Syria should be liberated and return to its true people and sons, against every oppression and oppressor. This is the voice of the Syrian revolution and the Syrian opposition. This is the voice of the one who is not content with the Zionist entity defacing our sky and destroying our airport. Nor am I content with the gangs of the Majusi Persian, the one-eyed Dajjal Iran to attack our land in Aleppo in the east and in the west. This is our country, this is our land, these are our holy sites. I swear by God and His might and Muhammad and his qibla, we will not throw away the weapons nor will we sleep except in the trenches of the jihad until truth returns to its owners and routs falsehood. Long live Syria, long live the free Syrians, long live every free defiant person on the face of the Earth, and may the tyrants, criminals and thieves- the likes of Bashar al-Assad and his Ba’athist gang- be defeated. Long live the Hay’a, long live the Salvation Government, and great regards from Abu Kamil Saleh Hasan to the sheikh of the mujahideen Abu Muhammad al-Jowlani. In the security of God [goodbye], brother Aymenn. Thank you very much and God bless you and all who help and extend their hand to recover rights and to raise the word of God. In the security of God, wa as-salam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu.