Ali al-Bayanouni, the deputy controller general of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and the group’s former long-serving supreme guide, said that the expected US strike on the Syrian regime is not intended to protect civilians following the Ghouta chemical massacre, but to serve US interests in the region. He also denied the Brotherhood has been briefed on the proposed strikes by Western powers.
Bayanouni, 75, gave an exclusive phone interview to Al-Monitor from London, where he has been living in forced exile for 34 years. He said that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has no military formations of its own in the revolution, but that it supports any centrist or moderate party that defends civilians against the regime’s practices and violations.