While there has been a new flare up of protests in the insurgent-held areas of northern Syria on account of growing anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey and attacks on Syrian refugee communities, the protests in Idlib and its environs in particular continue to be primarily driven by grievances against policies of the dominant faction Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
I have already given a perspective on these protests that is supportive of the protests. In this interview I present a very interesting perspective that is more critical of the demonstration, but at the same time is not supportive of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Today’s interviewee is Abd al-Majid Sharif, who once served as head of the local council in the originally Druze village of Kaftin in the Jabal al-Summaq region of northern Idlib (NB: the system of local councils has been abolished by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, being replaced by municipal offices that cover wider areas). The interview is slightly edited and condensed for clarity. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
Q: We have seen many protests in a number of localities and towns in Idlib over the past four months? What is the extent of the spread of these protests currently and is there media exaggeration in covering the protests?
A: I think the media coverage shows less than the demonstrations’ true size, and the number of protestors [i.e. those who oppose the policies of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham] is far greater than the number of those who go on the demonstrations, but as you know, some don’t believe in the benefit of demonstration, while others are afraid, and others are lying in wait, etc.
Q: What are the grievances and complaints behind these protests and are these grievances and complaints legitimate in your view?
A: The answer to this question is the heart of the issue. There is no doubt that there is great resentment of the Hay’a’s policies, but you can divide the protestors into groups as follows: