Tens of thousands of people rallied for the fourth straight Friday across Idlib Province in northwest Syria, chanting for the Syrian Revolution and against any renewed threat of a Russia-regime offensive.
Rallies were organized around the theme, “Neither Reconstruction nor Constitution Before Assad is Ousted”. Gatherings were reported in cities and towns, including Idlib, Dana, Khan Sheikhoun, Ma’arat al-Numan, Ariha, Taftanaz, Kafranbel, and Jisr al-Shughour.
The Assad regime is appealing for reconstruction funds to repair damage — estimated at more than $380 billion during the 90-month conflict — including in areas reoccupied by pro-Assad regimes since 2016. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is chairing discussions for a constitutional committee, but opponents say it will do nothing for an effective political transition.
#Syria: the masses of #Idlib fill the highway outside of Maarat al-Numan to protest against the #Assad regime and the carnage it unleashed on the people of the region for the last 7 years. pic.twitter.com/lL7wst2dP6
— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) September 21, 2018
The rallies were renewed at the end of August, as Russia and the regime bombed and shelled, killing scores of people, and threatened a ground assault on Idlib and northern Hama Provinces.
The offensive was checked by the opposition of Turkey, which has had forces in the area alongside rebels since summer 2016. Almost two weeks ago, Turkey and Russia agreed a de-militarized zone between the opposition- and regime-held areas, suspending any Russian-regime assault.
Free Idlib Police among a rally:
Tens of thousands of HTS and their families no doubt. Makes for a good spectacle, but in the end, the majority of Syrians don’t want what they are advocating.
Wrong — many of these rallies across Idlib Province have also been against HTS.
It’s impossible to know how many of those are against HTS. what we do know is that HTS is in control of those areas and has a gallows on display in the public square as a reminder to those who get out of line what awaits them.
No, HTS is not in control of the areas with mass rallies — it holds other territory in the province. The gallows shot — an isolated case to our knowledge — is from one of those villages.
Dragan,
It’s very possible to know who is against HTS if you learn about situation on the ground, rather than recycle sound-bite propaganda.
S.
Dragan is Andre. Same cheap 2 cents regime/russian propaganda. trash.
“Same cheap 2 cents regime/russian propaganda. trash.”
The cold war ended 28 yrs ago. It might be time to change the script.No idea who Andre is, though I had a fried in school called Andrej
There are a number of tweets by HTS all but admitting to directing a number of these demonstrations, including the directive not to wave HTS flags in front of foreign reporters.
Son of Al-Qaeda co-founder Abdullah Azzam, Huthaifa Azzam, calls on opposition in Idlib not to raise black/jihadi flags during tomorrow’s protest but only revolution flags because there are international journalists on the ground reporting on the protests.
https://twitter.com/AzzamHuthaifa/status/1040298803713269760
Dragan,
You’re misrepresenting or do not understand context for the tweets.
Azzam’s tweet was not because HTS was “admitting to directing” the largest demos. It was an instruction to HTS members not to try and hijack the main demos with HTS flags.
S.
Christ. Gives us a break with your bs.
Scott,
Azzam’s tweet clearly indicates that at the very least, HTS were participating in the demo and that he was concerned that raising HTS flags while foreign journalists would be bad PR.
Yes. But the vast majority in major demos were non-HTS. That’s the point rather than the pro-Assad propagandists distorting the situation with HTS.
I don’t have access to any numbers to verify or refute that so I’ll defer to your better judgement.
Do you have any actual numbers?
STFU Andre.
Heroes.