As the world focuses in on Russia's and Iran's ramped up military presence in Syria, opposition groups on the ground are digging in their heels.
Free Syrian Army factions in southern Syria released a statement Friday addressing the new ground and air force from Moscow and Tehran, claiming them as legitimate targets.
The statement goes on to lament shifting loyalties among Middle East leaders. In the latest, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Saturday endorsed Russia's military action in Syria, claiming it would help stamp out terrorism in the country by putting more pressure on Daesh (ISIS). But Moscow's also been under fire from the US and other Western powers for striking areas Daesh is nowhere to be found.
Amid an international shift in favor of—or at least ambivalence toward— Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remaining in power, opposition groups and rebel factions have unified against the tide. Also on Saturday, the Syrian opposition's external political wing Syrian National Coalition (SNC) joined powerful Islamist factions and Western-backed rebel groups in Syria to sign a statement against a UN peacemaking framework drafted in July.
Just one day earlier, Assad's govenrment agreed to negotiate under the draft. Of course, that could have something to do what the framework doesn't include—his step-down.
Here's the Southern Front's statement with English translation below.
Al Assad regime called the Russian and Iranian forces who are hiding under “fighting terrorism” slogan, while in fact they are only assisting the regime in its crimes against Syrians.
Your masks had fallen and your true faces are revealed. Especially for those countries who pretended to be our friends and support the Syrian revolution. Therefore we consider Russian and Iranian forces and government as our enemies and preserve our right to fight them as occupying forces.
We reject and refuse the dividing of Syrian land, and promise the Syrian people that we will do our best to restore our land in full. This is a goal that we will sacrifice our life for.
The scene is now clear for all Syrians— our appeals to the Arab and Muslim world were in vane after their silence on the regime's crimes. But this has only increased our determination and energy. May god bring us back victorious.
