Samira al-Masalmeh, deputy president of Syria’s main political opposition, said that she is unaware of the methods by which the political body received money, stating that her work focused on fighting “extremist ideas” within the group.
In an interview with the German channel DW, Masalmeh responded to a question from the interviewer “where is all the money paid to the coalition spent?” by saying, “I don’t know where this money goes. The coalition should be political leadership and not aid. There are agencies specified for that. We need to look into the money and how it is spent.”
Masalmeh said that she was fighting “extremist ideas” from inside the Syrian National Coaltiion and that she had been stopped from speaking by some “extremist groups” present as a bloc within the coalition.
She said in an interview published by the channel on Friday, December 16, that the coalition was composed of blocs, including the “councils bloc,” which “works on its own and tries to dominate the coalition,” and the “military leadership bloc, and I don’t know if it represents military leadership or not. We call on and ask this bloc which speaks in the name of the military leadership, who are they speaking for — in the name of groups working on the ground. Are they there just for elections?”
The coalition vice president, who has previously worked as an editor at the Tishreen government newspaper, added: “We demand and we ask these blocs, which have spoken in the name of the military leadership, in the name of those talking, in the name of the groups working on the ground — are they only there for for elections.”
(This article was revised on Jan. 6, 2017)
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
