Oct 11, 2015

One founder of Free Syrian Army found, says ready to meet with Russia and “Syrian regime”

Fahad al-Masri on RT Arabic.

The head of the International Committee of the Council of the Russia Federation, Konstantin Kosachev, said that Moscow managed to establish contacts with the moderate Syrian opposition, but it is unknown whether the interlocutors are related to the “Free Syrian Army“.

“Such contacts do exist, but we’re still not sure that those who are on the other side answering the phone, figuratively speaking, are actually part of this liberation army. So this is a big problem for Syria. And it seems to me that over time it will only be exacerbated, not resolved,” said Mr Kosachev on the TV channel “Russia 1“.

He noted that the moderate opposition may be Russia’s ally in the fight against the terrorist group “Islamic state” (IS). As reported by “Kommersant“, the Russian Ambassador in London Alexander Yakovenko handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom Russia’s request for assistance in establishing contacts with the “Free Syrian Army” in order to coordinate efforts in the fight against ISIS.

Previously one of the founders of the “Free Syrian Army,” Fahad al-Masri reported that he had met in Paris with Deputy foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Bogdanov. “We met with Mikhail Bogdanov, regarding Russia’s position on Syria. We, the ‘Free Syrian Army’, are ready to meet with representatives of the Russian authorities and we are also ready to meet with representatives of the Syrian regime,” he said.

In November 2013 Fahad al-Masri, who now resides in Paris, was demoted as the Free Syrian Army’s spokesman by Salim Idriss, the chief of staff of the FSA, for not reflecting the views of the FSA (statement at the left) after al-Masri delivered on Sky News Arabia a passionate denunciation of the “extremist terrorist groups” operating in Syria. (see the video here).