The Free Syrian Army, fighting against the government of Bashar al-Assad, clarified its position on possible military assistance from Russia. The opposition is ready to accept it if Russia “stops bombing them”

Free Syrian Army soldier (Photo: Niclas Hammarstrom\Zuma\TASS)

As Issam Reis, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, told the BBC on Monday, the opposition does not reject aid, but believes that first Russia “must stop bombing them.”

“We did not reject this offer [of help]. We simply said that we do not need their [Russian] help now. We just said that if the Russians were serious, then they should immediately stop airstrikes on our bases and areas with civilians,” Reis said.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), which carry out airstrikes against the positions of militants of the Islamic State banned in Russia, are ready to provide air support to the ground actions of the Syrian opposition, including the Free Syrian Army .

In response to this, the leader of the Falcons of the Levant, Hassan Haj Ali, told Reuters that he was not going to “talk to his killer.” The head of the 13th division of the Free Syrian Army, Ahmed al-Seoud, also expressed amazement at Moscow’s proposal. “Russia is attacking Free Army units and now wants to cooperate with us while continuing to be at one with Assad? We don’t understand anything about Russia’s position,” he said. In Moscow, these statements are considered deliberately false.

On Sunday, one of the founders of the Free Syrian Army, now the coordinator of the “National Salvation Group” (unites a whole group of representatives of the so-called moderate Syrian opposition), Fahd al-Masri told RIA Novosti that representatives of the moderate opposition invited the Russian side to meet in Cairo and discuss issues of interaction and political settlement. However, according to al-Masri, the opposition has not yet received a response from Moscow.

As the WSJ reported , citing diplomatic sources in Moscow, the special representative of the Russian President for the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, has held a number of negotiations with representatives of the Syrian opposition, including the Syrian Free Army, over the past three weeks. The sources did not disclose details of the negotiations.

From the very beginning of the operation in Syria, Moscow has been repeatedly accused of carrying out airstrikes against the positions of militias that oppose Bashar al-Assad. Russia rejects such statements and emphasizes that airstrikes are carried out only against positions of Islamic State militants.

The issue of possible air support for that part of the Syrian opposition that is ready to fight against the Islamic State terrorists was discussed at a recent meeting between the presidents of Russia and Syria, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, held last week in Moscow. Revealing some details of the negotiations, Putin said that he asked the Syrian leader how he felt about the idea that Moscow would support the efforts of the armed opposition ready to confront ISIS. According to Putin, Assad agreed to this possibility.

Syrian oppositionists deny refusal of Russian military assistance