Abu Mohammad al-Julani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda)
A planned meeting for the Syrian opposition in the Turkish city of Antioch was cancelled due to “security reasons,” the al-Araby al-Jadeed outlet reported on March 14, citing opposition officials who organized the meeting.
Many opposition bodies were invited to the extensive meeting, including the National Syrian Army (NSA), the National Front for Liberation (NFL), the Syrian Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC), the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, The opposition’s delegation to the Astana talks, the Syrian Interim Government and the Syrian Islamic Council (SIC).
The officials didn’t clarify the nature of the “security reasons” which led to the cancellation of the meeting. However, other sources told al-Arabi al-Jadeed that the meeting was canceled because the Turkish-backed National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces and the Syrian Interim Government had refused to attend it.
Previously, the organizers claimed that a series of high-level decisions and measures will be announced during the meeting. Syrian opposition activists revealed that one of these decision would be the merge of the Syrian Interim Government with the Salvation Government, which is run by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
HTS, commonly known as the al-Nusra Front, was the main branch of al-Qaeda in Syria up until 2017. The plan to merge its government with the opposition was seen as a clear attempt to legitimize al-Qaeda presence in Syria.
Two months ago, a source in the HNC confirmed to Sputnik news agency that Turkey is working to transform HTS into a political party. The source said that the Turkish-backed party will attempt to mimic to Lebanese Hezbollah.
The failure of the meeting is a blow to Turkey’s plans and HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani personally. However, other similar attempts may be undertaken in the next few months. Turkey appears to be in rush to execute its plans for northern Syria before the Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance would make a final decision to implement a military option in Idlib.
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Metting canceled? Shame. I heard a couple of kalibrs were planning to attend.
Back in september last year the Turks designated HTS as a terrorist organization, so it’s quite a stretch to imaging they’re about to upend that decision just 6 months later and redesignate them as legitimate combatants, and even harder to believe, also turn them into a legitimate opposition party.
Not a stretch at all, a little like how the PKK/YPG pretend they’re not terrorists by calling themselves the SDF.
The Belgian court of Cassation has declared PKK not terrorist.
FSA declared HTS not terrorists too. Belgium is also a country where parents can have their own children euthanised, Belgian soldiers have the worst record for rape & murder than any other NATO member, morals are not their thing.
blow up such meetings with Kalibr… so who cares about those idiots
“The Syrian Interim Government”
They managed to hold on to this for quite a long time, but should probably still keep their day jobs.