The declaration of more than 100 Syrian military factions on the formation of what they called 'The Revolutionary Command Council' comes in the context of attempts made by Syrian military forces to expand outside the internationally recognized armed opposition frameworks. Some see it merely as a media bubble that will not last for long.
According to a press statement issued by Mohamed Alloush, head of the political body of the Council, "the Council was formed because of an internal need to organize the work inside Syria, especially because the Interim Government is not stable".
Alloush added that the Revolutionary Command Council relied on "the participation in the revolution and the forces working on the ground", and thus provinces like Tartous are not represented, because they didn’t participate in the revolution.
Alloush divided the Syrian case into two cases: The case abroad (which he described as the "diaspora"), and the other inside the country, pointing out that the Syrian Interim Government is outside the Syrian territory and cannot manage the interior situation.
The council includes a General Commission comprising 219 members, including 73 members of the General Command appointed by their fronts, and those have chosen the members of the Executive Office, which includes 17 members. The representation in the Council was distributed between six regions, namely, the northern region with 19 seats, the central region with 12 seats, the southern region with 12 seats, the eastern region with seven seats, the coastal region with eight seats, and Damascus and its countryside with 15 seats.
Member of the Syrian National Coalition, Abdul Ilah al-Fahd, told Madar al-Youm that "we cannot depend on this initiative because it is not new, it has been preceded by other initiatives, but shortly after, they failed."
On the other hand, a prominent opposition source said that "the initiative is a media bubble. It will not last more than a month".
The source added that most of the leaders in the new council are outside Syria, thus they don’t represent the forces on the ground.
The source said that the number of factions is unimportant, given that the faction sometimes consists of no more than a dozen men. Therefore, the Council does not exceed 1,000 members, pointing out that the only power in the Council is the Army of Islam, led by Zahran Alloush.
The source denied the possibility of international recognition for the Council because it includes one main force, and because of the Islamic leanings of the Council in the structure and the formation is clear.
Among the groups that participated in the new council are: the Army of Islam, the Islamic Front, the Army of the Mujahideen, Al-Zanki, Ajnad al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, Failaq Homs, Liwaa al-Haq, Thuwar Talbiseh, the Syrian Revolutionary Front, Hazm Movement, the Turkmen Front, the Kurdish Front, Sokour al-Sham, the First Brigade, and the 13 Brigade, the al-Iman Brigade- the factions of the Horan.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
