Syrian Brotherhood criticises attempts to discredit opposition

A leading official in Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, Zuhair Salem, has urged the Syrians to re-read the national, regional and international scene objectively as three years have passed since the outbreak of the revolution.

Salem said, in a press statement on Thursday, “the Syrian revolution has been discredited since day one. Syrian, regional and international forces have mastered, since the early days of the revolution, how to demand assurances and to spread fear. However, no matter how many answers we have given they have not accepted the revolution nor have they accepted the rebels. While Buthaina Shaaban was the first to accuse the activists in Deraa of being Salafist jihadists fighters, others claimed to be patriotic oppositionists or regional supporters or international friends. They have all played the same act and expressed the same objections, followed by unfounded accusations of extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism, links to al-Qaeda and accusations of the opposition being taken over”.

Salem urged the Syrians to remember that “the same supporters and friends, before hearing about the Nusrah Front and the Daash group, had objected to peaceful demonstrations which emerged from mosques and protests against linking Friday’s protests with God’s name, questioning their significance. They even questioned the battalions and brigades names and discredited the revolution and the revolutionarie. Yet no matter how many assurances they were given, they will never accept us”.

Salem felt that those who supported Bashar al-Assad yet joined the opposition ranks had benefited from the regime and were trying to guarantee future privileges for themselves.

Salem added, “those concerned by your revolution have learned their lessons and believe that killing the revolution from its birth will be to their benefit. Dear Syrians, I assure you, no matter how many assurances you give them, they will never accept your democracy project, not the Americans not the Russians not the Europeans nor the Iranians. They do not object to your revolution but to you, to your humanity and to your democracy, liberation and justice.”