Look Who it Was Random video

Riyadh Hijab of the ‘Syrian opposition’ should start fighting elections in Syria like everybody else

475 views · Published 16 January 2016 · 3:27 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: Public Enquiry · 2016 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

No excuse for Syrian opposition to avoid elections and peace talks
Investigative journalist Tony Gosling said that Riyadh Hijab of the ‘Syrian opposition’ should start fighting elections in Syria like everybody else in the civilized world does.

Former Syrian prime minster Riyadh Hijab, who is now part of the Syrian opposition team, accused Washington of softening its position on Syria. He also said that due to the US government’s backtracking, the UN adopted a resolution in December that ignored the issue of President Bashar Assad’s fate.  

RT: Why is the US considering training Syrian rebels at all? Do they think they can come up with a better strategy the second time round?

Tony Gosling: I hope so. Because of the upcoming elections, there is a little bit of pressure on the Americans to come up with a coherent policy here. But I am afraid there is one thing they can do with Riyadh Hijab from the rebel groups as a part of this negotiation process, which is to laugh at him. He is called ‘the opposition’ in the Western media, but he is now saying that he may not even turn up to the peace talks. I would suggest that if he wants to be the opposition that he should start fighting elections in Syria like everybody else in the civilized world does. We have parliamentary elections in 2012 that he possibly could have fought. Also, of course, presidential election in 2014 he could have fought. If he holds his horses and bides his time, the new constitution means Assad has only got two terms anyway. So why on earth does he not engage with the peaceful electoral process? That is what I think should happen here. And there is really no excuse for him to not turn up at these peace talks.

RT: What has changed on the ground in Syria? Will something change if the US gives its support?

TG: There has become a big difference between the foreign policy as it is being sold to the public here in the West, and what is really going here on the ground. Many of us have been told that it is a battle going on in Syria with ISIS.

Actually, what is happening behind the scenes is a battle for Syria, for the heart and minds. And America is slowly in a position where it is having to abandon some of its support for these rebels. It is becoming pretty clear that there is very little difference between [rebels] and ISIL/ISIL/DAESH. In fact what they are doing are trading with each other, exchanging weapons – some of the groups. And we’ve even had a senior general saying that we should be supporting al-Qaeda in Syria.

I think that they’ve got to go to these peace talks if we want any kind of real solution here, because actually the Americans are backtracking a bit and are realizing that their support for the rebels doesn’t make sense in military terms, never mind the propaganda.

RT: Turkey and the US have been trying to seal the border with Syria for months now with little progress. What is making this job so difficult?

TG: What makes it most difficult is that you have got a lots of interest in Turkey in keeping that border open, infiltrating agents through one way or another, and also keeping some of the oil supplies running, which Russia has been concentrating on thwarting those supplies going through. So we’ve got double dealing from the Turkish Erdogan government, who even has been talking about Hitler’s regime as a good way of running things… I think Turkey is in a kind of meltdown. They can’t make any clear coherent policy either and that’s another casualty of the next-door war in Syria.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/328953-us-turkey-training-syria/

More from this channel