The Sharia Authority in southern Damascus has blamed the reconciliation team in Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham for solely signing the second stage of reconciliations with the regime last Thursday.
The unexpected act took place only two days after promises from the team not to sign any initiative or agreement with the regime without consulting the Sharia Authority and the jihadist Shura Council.
Al-Watan newspaper published details of the agreement, which included a complete normalization with the regime, besides reconciliations with the sectarian militias in Sayda Zainab.
Photos emerged in the media of Sheikh Saleh al-Khatib al-Yaldani in a meeting with some Shiite figures and the Governor of southern Damascus, alongside some members of regime’s security forces.
These developments shocked many people, especially residents who have seen many relatives killed by those same sectarian militias.
Moreover, the agreement included promises to fight radical groups like the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and added the formation of a special force of men from the area to be supervised and trained by the National Defence Forces aimed at protecting reconciliation and fighting anybody who tries to spoil it. In return, the regime freed seven detainees from the area as a sign of goodwill.
Zaman al-Wasl’s correspondent in Damascus revealed that the Shura Council and other FSA leaderships had held an urgent meeting to discuss the consequences of the reconciliation agreement, and the reconciliation team was invited, but it did not attend. The meeting resulted in a strongly worded statement announcing the cancellation all the previous agreements with the regime, besides calling Sheikh Saleh al-Khatib for investigation. The statement also insisted on the unity of the signatories’ decisions and obligations for consulting and getting permissions of the Sharia Authority and the Jihadists’ Shura Council for any agreement with the Syrian regime beforehand.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
