Today is day 24 in the attack the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) under them launched against Afrin. The forces gathered under the Jaysh Al Thuwar (“Army of Revolutionaries”) umbrella say they are the true FSA and they have come together for the Syrian revolution, while those who attack Afrin are ISIS, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (formerly Al Nusra), who Erdoğan calls “national and local”.

“TURKEY WANTED US TO FIGHT AS WELL”

Jaysh Al Thuwar Commander Mihemed Zaza from Idlib’s Nahsen district stated that he joined the Syrian revolution and fought ISIS in Idlib in 2013. Zaza stressed that Turkey had been in contact with them in the past, and that after ISIS developed Turkey changed policy towards them.

Zaza said Turkey had attempted to make them fight in Kobanê and Girê Spî before: “Turkey wanted to make us fight against Kurds. They formed the group called the Euphrates Shield. We were there at first, but we left when the Nusra people arrived. The top level Nusra members in Idlib are all in Turkey now. They all say they are FSA, but that is not true. We are all Syrians. The people fighting there now are not FSA, they are mostly ISIS and Al Nusra members. The FSA doesn’t discriminate between peoples and faiths. We are there and we fight for all of Syria. Turkey tried to use all of us according to their interests. They trained groups for them. Turkey turned ISIS and Al Nusra into FSA.”

“KURDS ARE OUR FRIENDS”

Zaza also called on Syrians attacking Afrin under the name FSA and reminded them that Jindires, Reco, Bilbile, Shiye and Sherawa are still Syria. Zaza said: “Don’t fight the Kurds, they are our friends. They want us to fight each other. When we first set out, we were to take down the Baath regime that was oppressing the people, not to attack and kill the oppressed Kurdish people, everybody should see this.”

“THEY WANTED TO DESTROY US”

Another regional commander of the FSA in the Idlib region is Beşar Ehmed Zeytar, who stated that the Hayat Tahrir al Sham wanted to take over the FSA and attacked them several times to that end. Zeytar said many of their friends were massacred in these attacks, and later they came to Afrin and gathered under the Jaysh Al Thuwar.

“THOSE ARE NOT FSA”

Zeyar continued: “They say the FSA is fighting the SDF forces. That is completely untrue. They are all gang groups. We know most of them. They are from Africa, from Yemen, Sina, Uzbekistan and Tacikistan to fight for the ‘FSA’. The true FSA is here. Here with the people of Syria. There are no FSA members thre. The true FSA is here. Turkey is trying to create a divide between the peoples and us. They want to make Idlib and Afrin fight. Nobody should fall for this. We will void their policies.”