New Syrian Group Warns
of ‘Foreign Meddling’

A group of Syrian politicians and activists from both opposition and pro-government sides yesterday [Jan. 3] launched the “Patriotic Movement for the Salvation of Syria,” which aims to “combat foreign meddling.” MP Omar Osei, head of the reconciliation committee in the Syrian parliament, told As-Safir that there are signs of a settlement between Washington and Moscow regarding several issues in the Middle East that will reflect positively on the Syrian crisis. He also warned that “in case the project of terrorist cells succeeds, Syria will become the next Somalia or Balkans, and this will have a negative effect on the Middle East."

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Summary : The Patriotic Movement for the Salvation of Syria, launched in Beirut, says it will tour the world to educate powers on the danger of allowing the “terrorists” of the Syrian revolution to defeat the state, reports Fayez Ajouz.  Publisher: As-Safir (Lebanon) Original Title: MP Osei to Al-Safir: international settlement features to resolve the crisis Author: Fayez Ajouz First Published: January 4, 2013 Posted on: January 7 2013 Translated by: Al-Monitor Categories : Syria   Security

During a news conference held in the Golden Tulip hotel (previously called Marriott Hotel) in Beirut, Osei along with the head of the Justice Party, Nabeel Fayad, and a member in the constituent assembly of the movement, Fahed Baroudy, read out the constituent statement of the “Patriotic Movement for the Salvation of Syria.” The statement focuses on “maintaining Syria’s unity and believes that the national dialogue among Syrians and within Syria is the only road to salvation from the crisis.” It also calls for “exposing the flagrant human rights violations committed by extremist groups currently operating in Syria.” The statement affirms that the goal of the movement is “to work on uncovering the link between the Doha coalition group and al-Qaeda cells devastating the Syrians,” “to protect the Syrian army since it is a red line” and “to re-establish the social bonds between the different components of Syrian society, regardless of their religion, affiliations, political orientations and culture.”

Moreover, the statement emphasized “fighting all forms and means of foreign intervention that conflict with Syrian sovereignty” and working to “expose abuses and thefts that are targeting Syrian properties, including fortunes, antiquities and infrastructure.”

Two films about the criminal operations carried out by “terrorists” and the destruction inflicted on schools and universities were shown.

In response to a question about whether the Patriotic Movement accepts the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, “The Syrian people are the only ones who can decide that.”

He considered “the condition of Doha’s coalition for Assad to step down in order to launch the dialogue to be aimed at destroying the Syrian people.” He added that “there is an attempt to turn Syria into Afghanistan, a situation we will not accept.”

On the role of Kurds in Syria’s incidents, Osei answered, “Turkey is directly attacking Syria through terrorist armies. Thinking that the Syrian regime would fall within weeks, Turkey wanted to implement Erdogan’s system in Syria, after Egypt and Libya. It also tried to intervene with the Kurdish issue in Syria, but I assure everyone that the Kurdish regions are the safest and most secure and that the Kurdish people have aborted all these attempts.”

Regarding his assessment of the security situation in Syria, President of the National Initiative for Syrian Kurds Osei told As-Safir, “I believe that the national Syrian army shifted from a phase of reaction to a phase of action around a month and a half ago and was able to bomb the bases of armed terrorist groups and achieve field victories, especially in Damascus suburbs, Aleppo and in some regions of Syria that have witnessed heavy clashes. The gradual beginning of the end is drawing nearer with the Syrian army’s success in dealing heavy blows to the backbone of the Wahhabi-armed terrorist militias. This situation has had clear repercussions on the lives of Syrian people, especially in Aleppo, the suburbs of Damascus and some other regions.”

Osei also announced that the Patriotic Movement’s agenda is packed, and “we will put forth a local map to establish the structure of the movement formed by different trends, parties, independents and members of the House of Representatives. Then, we will take to the streets to launch public awareness campaigns for all categories of the Syrian society and in all provinces. At the regional level, we will tour in Arab countries, especially Egypt, Lebanon and the Gulf to meet with all free Arabs and honorable figures, especially secular opposition groups. We will also tour in all Western capitals that we can visit to meet with their opposition groups, parliamentary blocs, human rights organizations and international organizations to explain the political reality of this structural crisis that Syria is undergoing.”

Regarding whether the plan of the UN-Arab envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, which is based on the Geneva statement and calls for for a fully-fledged transitional government, marginalizes Assad, Osei said, “No, it doesn’t. I believe there are strong indications to hold Yalta Conference 2. Yalta Conference 1 took place 60 years ago and resulted in the Soviet Union’s and America’s sharing of world power. The course of developments of the Syrian crisis will determine the new world order,” adding that “there will soon be a meeting between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin to establish the features of this new world. The Russians captured this historic moment from the development of incidents in Syria because if Syria fell, all those terrorist cells would move to Russian backyards.”

Osei continued to say, “I believe there are signs of international settlement regarding the Syrian crisis and several issues in the Middle East, beginning with the Iranian nuclear file in which the allowed uranium enrichment level for Iranians does not exceed 20%. Another issue is the Arab-Zionist conflict and the support of honorable resistance in the region like Hezbollah and the Syrian crisis. I think a great deal of this settlement has been silently realized in Moscow and Washington, and it will impose itself and influence the internal Syrian crisis positively. The green light for operations will then come from the American maestro of opposition and from some regional countries involved in the aggression on Syria, like the sheikhs and kingdoms of oil and petrodollars in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and this Ottoman Seljuq Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was involved in the aggression on Syria. Then, Syria will be able to become a democratic and modern state and a third republic.”

Finally, Osei warned that “in case the project of terrorist cells succeeds and in case this backward thinking and its regional and international supporters rise, Syria will become the next Somalia and Balkans. The country will succumb to fighting racial and religious cantons and emirates, thus having repercussions on neighboring countries and the Middle East.”

This article was translated by Pascale Menassa.