Obeida Arnaout, a spokesman for the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) extremist group that just took over Syria after a joint assault with Turkish-backed fighters, refused to address Israel’s airstrikes across the country in an interview aired by British news outlet Channel 4 on 11 December.
During the interview, Arnaout avoided answering the question twice.
When asked about his reaction to the over 300 Israeli airstrikes on Syria since 8 December, Arnaout said: “Our priority is to restore security and services, to revive civilian life and institutions, and care for newly liberated cities. There are many urgent parts of day-to-day life to restore, bakeries, electricity, water, communications, so our priority is to provide those services to the people.”
“I understand it’s not your priority, but are you honestly telling me that you have nothing to say about Israel striking 300 sites in this country?” Channel 4’s interviewer asked a second time, to which Arnaout responded: “Have no doubt, we want everyone to respect the sovereignty of the new Syria. This point is very important to us.”
The Israeli attacks, which exceed 350 since the fall of Damascus, have wiped out most of Syria’s military capabilities. The Israeli army also significantly expanded its illegal occupation in the country.
More Israeli strikes targeted Syrian military infrastructure in the Damascus outskirts on 12 December.
There has been documented evidence over the years regarding Syria’s extremist opposition cooperating with Israel, particularly during 2014 battles in Quneitra, when fighters from the Nusra Front – the Al-Qaeda group that became HTS – were receiving air cover from Israeli jets and being treated in Israeli hospitals in the occupied Golan Heights.
Political Syrian opposition organizations have also enjoyed ties with Tel Aviv.
Fahd al-Masri, a former Free Syrian Army (FSA) spokesman and member of the Belgium-based National Salvation Front in Syria, told Israeli news outlet i24 after president Bashar al-Assad’s government was ousted on Sunday: “Without the blows you inflicted on Hezbollah and Iran, we could not free Syria,” Masri said. “Thank you, Israel. This is an Israeli victory, our brothers and neighbors.”
HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has recently started going by his real name Ahmad al-Sharaa, told a reporter this week that his message to foreign countries is that Syria is tired from war and not looking to enter another one, adding that the main “fear” was of Hezbollah and “Iranian militias.”
Arnaout, who refused to answer Channel 4’s questions on Israeli airstrikes, gave an interview on 7 December with the Center for Peace Communications – a New York-based “non-profit” organization that is funded by pro-Israel lobbies and promotes “reconciliation” in the region.
Answering a question about whether the HTS-led assault against Aleppo resembled the Hamas operation on 7 October, the HTS spokesman said his organization did not attack anyone – adding that former government troops who surrendered or did not fire were spared.
He also said any isolated incidents would be closely monitored and “dealt with swiftly.”
Several videos of militants executing unarmed soldiers – including wounded ones in hospital – have emerged since Arnaout’s interview with Center for Peace Communications.
Scores of former ISIS fighters and commanders are incorporated into Turkiye’s proxy in Syria, the Syrian National Army (SNA) – which was part of the assault with HTS that led to the fall of Damascus and the collapse of the Syrian government.
