Video: Syrian National Coalition's Khaled Khoja Admits to Inner City Press a Free Syrian Alliance "Tactical Alliance" with Jabhat al Nusra

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- When Khaled Khoja, as new president of the Syrian National Coalition, held a UN press conference on April 29, Inner City Press asked him about the Free Syrian Army working with Jabhat al Nusra, and the UN reports that the FSA has recruited and used child soldiers.

 Here is the video; below is Inner City Press' transcription:

Inner City Press: There’s a lot of talk about how some of the military advances have been because of either a link-up with, or due to fighting by al Nusra and other listed terrorist groups. What are the relations, if any, between the Free Syrian Army and al Nusra? And also, earlier the UN special advisor on children and armed conflict said that in the Free Syrian Army there were issues of child soldier recruiting. Are you aware of any steps taken to address that?

Khoja: The role of al Nusra in Idlib is being exaggerated. Maybe 10 percent of the forces were from al Nusra forces in Idlib. But they have good propaganda. Some of the media, including the media of regime, are exaggerating the role of al Nusra. Not only in Idlib. Everywhere.

But sometimes, the Free Syrian Army has no chance, when the Free Syrian Army is battling against the regime. Fighting against the regime, has no chance to fight on different fronts. Sometimes they are fighting on different fronts, against ISIL, against the regime, and sometimes against Jabhat al Nusra, as it happened in the southern area. Sometimes in war time Damascus.

So, Free Syrian Army sometimes made tactical alliance with some different forces, including al Nusra in Idlib. But we have seen now that al Nusra is not that big force in Idlib.. Sham,  the first division, and Sham division in Idlib, created a civil governance, there, and al Nusra could not oppose this governance.

Now we have a lot of challenges, because more than 400,000 people were living in Idlib, and I don’t think that even the civil governance could handle this situation. As a coalition we have our interim government helping the forces to provide services, in cluding health care and education and other infrastructure, but it’s a big challenge to continue managing the situation under the barrel bombs.

  So, the question on FSA child soldiers was not answered. Khoja said that the US train and equip program for now does not benefit the FSA. 

Back on April 24 when the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura came to the UN Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen changed any of the dynamics on Syria. 

  In reply, de Mistura told Inner City Press that "everything in the region these days is connected." He added that he is focused on Syria.

 Inner City Press also asked de Mistura about criticism made by his former adviser Mouin Rabbani on Qatar's Al Jazeera TV, that Mistura is out of his depth and not up for the task.

 De Mistura replied, I will not respond, you would do the same, if one of your ex-colleagues...

  Inner City Press asked the question because it hadn't been asked, tellingly.  Now Inner City Press has heard more; watch this site 
   

Syrian Coalition's Khoja Admits to Inner City Press FSA's "Tactical Alliance" with Al Nusra Front, No Child Soldiers Answer

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- When Khaled Khoja, as new president of the Syrian National Coalition, held a UN press conference on April 29, Inner City Press asked him about the Free Syrian Army working with Jabhat al Nusra, and the UN reports that the FSA has recruited and used child soldiers.

  Khoja acknowledged that the FSA has had "tactical alliances" with al Nusra, for example in Idlib. He said the ties are exaggerated, including by "media of the regime." But given that Nusra is a UN-designated terrorist group, what to make of these alliances?

  The question on FSA child soldiers was not answered. Khoja said that the US train and equip program for now does not benefit the FSA. 

Back on April 24 when the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura came to the UN Security Council stakeout, Inner City Press asked him if the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen changed any of the dynamics on Syria. 

  In reply, de Mistura told Inner City Press that "everything in the region these days is connected." He added that he is focused on Syria.

 Inner City Press also asked de Mistura about criticism made by his former adviser Mouin Rabbani on Qatar's Al Jazeera TV, that Mistura is out of his depth and not up for the task.

 De Mistura replied, I will not respond, you would do the same, if one of your ex-colleagues...

  Inner City Press asked the question because it hadn't been asked, tellingly.  Now Inner City Press has heard more; watch this site.

 Dina Kawar said Mistura “mentioned what he will do next month in Geneva, holding separate meetings with the Syrian parties, representatives of the civil society and regional and international actors. He will provide his assessment to the Secretary General and keep the Security Council informed,” Kawar said, taking no questions.

  Staffan de Mistura emerged, saying he would take two or three questions. He said, “the only way is to test, a stress test,” a phrase like his previous “freeze.” He said, “by end of June we should be in the position to reassess whether any convergence on substance and report to the Secretary General.”

  De Mistura said, “This is not Geneva Three, this is a series of consultation, one to one. We can convene and ask everyone to come and not exclude anyone.. Iran is a member country of the UN, it is a major play in the region, it has influence in Syria. The UN has the right, and will be inviting everyone.”

  Unlike Montreux, it was observed by... one wag.

  Back on April 16, that the Syrian chemical weapons victim and doctor who briefed the UN Security Council did so behind closed doors, with no UN Television coverage, was a product of the Council's rules.

  It was an “Arria formula” meeting, which was not be listed in the UN Journal or even on the blue electronic signs outside it. (The sign said the meeting was about "nutrition.")

  Afterward chemical weapons victim Qusai Zakarya took some questions in the hall, before again going behind closed doors of the UN Censorship Alliance, see below.

  Inner City Press in this public space asked Qusai Zakarya what he thought of UN envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Qusai Zakarya said replied to Inner City Press, "I think Staffan de Mistura is a hypocrite. I think his very disgusting attempt to shine up the image of the regime is exposed to the Syrian poeple and to a nlot of members of the international community. His offer on freezes was a joke. If he really cared about saving lives he would have convinced the regime to stop using its fire power. We have a lot of outrage against his attempts, the deal he was trying to offer, it's just another false attempt to shine up the image of the regime."

   Inner City Press asked him if he would meet with any UN official. “I can't answer that questio right now,” he said. Then the convoy went to the clubhouse of the UN Censorship Alliance, which had sent notice only to those who pay it money: "They will have just presented their accounts in front of the UN Security Council at an Arria-formula meeting on Syria Chemical Weapons."

     But why would the doctors, in holding a supposed press conference afterward, not do so in the UN Press Briefing Room on UNTV, as can be done by any NGO or individual as long as sponsored by a member state? 

As McCain Says Jarba Is Syrian Coalition President, Khoja Speaks

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- The Syrian National Coalition sends out a steady stream of press releases, for example today's, headlined "President Khoja Addresses the Syrian People." The SNC did the same under Khaled Khoja's predecessor Hadi al-Bahra.

 But on January 17 when US Senator John McCain tweeted about his and others' visit to the SNC in Saudi Arabia, he wrote "In #KSA delegation met w/ #Syrian Opposition Coalition Pres Ahmed Jarba."

  Inner City Press on the evening of January 17 tweeted back, "Wait - Jarba is still prez?"

  A wire service which initially simply reported, based on McCain's tweet, that Jarba IS the president of the Coalition then changed it. 

  Ahmad Jarba hasn't been president of the Syrian Coalition for some time - although he was and presumably is Saudi supported. So did McCain simply misidentify the apparently forgettable president of the Coalition? Or is Jarba still in the mix?

 Back on December 21 from its base in Turkey the Syria Coalition issued a strange press release or at least headline on December 21 about Bert Koenders, the Netherlands' foreign minister and former UN official in Cote d'Ivoire and Mali:

Koenders Reminds Bahra: The Situation in Syria Involves More Than Just Assad's War Against ISIS

Hadi Al-Bahra, President of the Syrian Coalition, stressed that "defeating terrorism in the region can only be achieved through the elimination of its root cause, which is the Assad regime," during a meeting held yesterday with the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in Istanbul. Bahra stresses "the need to support the Free Syrian Army with advanced weapons for its battle against Assad and ISIS,” pointing out that the FSA was the first to declare war on ISIS. The meeting discussed the 24-point peace plan put forward by the Syrian Coalition during the Geneva talks. The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed his country’s support for the moderate Syrian opposition, pointing out that the Syrian Revolution began when demonstrators took to the streets demanding freedom and that the situation in Syria is not a war between ISIS and the Assad regime." 

  The meeting also discussed the plan of the UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, and both sides agreed that many points regarding the plan needs to be clarified. At the end of the meeting, Koenders reiterates his government’s continued support for the projects that provide services to the Syrian people. (Source: Syrian Coalition)

  The last paragraph seems to connote that al Bahra's Coalition is now lobbying European ministers against Staffan de Mistura's plan.  (Inner City Press asked the president of the Security Council for December when de Mistura will brief the Council on his progress; next month at earliest, it seems.)

  But did the Syria Coalition really need to be "reminded" by Koenders? Or should Koenders be reminded of what he left so abruptly in Mali, a shooting gallery and trap of IEDs against UN peacekeepers? DPKO and its foot soldiers are just cannon fodder, some say, for the diplomats who drift or float through at the top levels, using it.

After UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous orderedsurrenders to Jabhat al Nusra in the Golan Heights, the UN's report dated December 1 said:

"Armed groups had seized a number of vehicles during the incidents involving the detention of the 45 peacekeepers from United Nations position 27 and the confinement of others at positions 68 and 69 late in August. While UNDOF  hurriedly moved personnel and most United Nations assets, including vehicles, from Camp Faouar and other United Nations positions were temporarily vacated, unfortunately some assets and equipment were left behind."

   Now there are reports of UN vehicles being used for suicide car bombs attacks in Daraa in Syria.

  Who in the UN will be held responsible? Ladsous who reported ordered the surrender then never answered questions about it? What steps if any did the UN take since then to try to avoid UN vehicles being used in car bomb attacks? Is this another case of UN Peacekeeping negligence?

  Back on September 30 when now outgoing UN humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos spoke on Syria to the Security Council, one expected her to describe the impact of the airstrikes in Syria by the US and five Arab kingdoms which began fully eight days before on September 22.

  But Amos stuck to the script, a written report with a cut-off date of September 17. Thus she did not mention the reports of airstrikes hitting grain mills in Manjib. One question is, will she ever?

Update: Amos in public also did not mention the "other" UN-named terrorist group in Syria, Jabhat al Nusra. Inner City Press has learned that in the closed-door consultations that followed, Amos presented a map of who controls what in Syria, listing ISIL-affiliates groups and then, in another color, other groups. That includes Al Nusra -- that is, Nusra and the Free Syrian Army. We'll have more on this.

   Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari came out of the Security Council. Off-camera, he told Inner City Press that the airstrikes since September 22 -- the only day on which he said Syria was notified by the US -- have killed "only 14 Da'esh" or ISIL fighters.

  On UNTV camera, Inner City Press asked Ja'afari about the impact of the strikes; he said the number of civilians casualties is not yet known but when he has the information, he will provided it.

  Inner City Press asked about the order by UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous that troops from Fiji and the Philippines surrender to Al Nusra. Ja'afari said Ladsous has not gotten back to Syria -- strange, given that it hosts a peacekeeping mission, and that Ladsous met untransparently with Sudan's Omar al Bashir. 

  But Ladsous is getting more and more selective, more recently blocking Inner City Press' camera and then taking his favored scribes away from the scheduled (and canceled) stakeout for a "briefing." Video here from Minute 1:19.

  The UN released its August 19 - September 17 Syria aid access report for September in an even more pre-spun way than it did on April 23, then on May 22, on June 20 andthen on July 24 and August 28. The UN has declined or refused to reform its broken "gray lady" system. This report cuts off on September 17 -- before the airstrikes by the US and five Kingdoms.

  The new report, cutting off on September 17, says "Government forces also shelled and undertook airstrikes against ISIL positions in the northern and eastern parts of the country in an attempt to stop ISIL."  What about the US and five Kingdom's airstrikes?

  Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access went to the UN Spokesperson's Office on September 29, the eve of the Security Council's month meeting, and asked for an explanation why rather than reform the pre-spin system, the reports are simply not pre-released. There was no explanation.

Update II: on September 30, the UN Spokesperson's office put the report, dated September 23, into its "Gray Lady." What was the point? We'll have more on this. The UN should be transparent.

 The new report goes on, "Government- controlled cities and towns continued to be subject toindiscriminate mortar attacks, shelling and vehicle-borne improvised explosivedevices by armed opposition, extremist and designated terrorist groups, notably in
Aleppo and Damascus governorates. For example, in Aleppo city, extensive shellingin the Khalideah residential and commercial area at the beginning of September resulted in the deaths of eight civilians, including women and children."
 
 On a group neither listed with ISIL and Al Nursa, nor (formally) with the Free Syrian Army, the new UN report says "On September 5, armed opposition groups took control of the Dokhanya and Ein Tarma suburbs of Damascus and engaged government forces in Midan and Zahira al Jadida, located less than 2 km from the Old City. A similar operation took place in Teshrine district, north of Damascus. On 16 September, one of the main Islamic Front factions (Ajnad al Sham) announced the beginning of a second phase of rocket attacks on the centre of Damascus."

   In the new system, selective reports circulate for days before the UN's actual report. 

  The spoon-fed pre-spinner, ironically, has engaged incensorship of other leaks, click here for ChillingEffects.org, here for critique by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

  As Inner City Press reported here, Australia along with Luxembourg and Jordan pushed a  resolution on Syria aid access. 

  Again, the UN report does not directly address calls in Washington to support the Free Syrian Army -- which is still listed by another part of the UN as recruiting and using child soldiers.

   

Call to Cancel Syria Photos at UN, on Day of Charlie Hebdo Attack, by Syrian National Coalition

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 7 -- On a day when official around the world and at the UN after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris spoke about the right to freedom of expression and to display unpopular views, the UN received a protest to a photo exhibit about Syria set to begin the next day, January 8.

 The Syrian National Coalition -- the moderate opposition, in Washingtonese -- wrote to UN Management official Yukio Takasu:

"It has come to my attention that on 8 – 16 January 2015 the United Nations Secretariat Building will host an exhibit for the Syrian Arab Republic Mission featuring the photographs of Syrian regime propagandist Hagop Vanesian, in an event entitled 'My Homeland.' The UN cannot in good conscience host an exhibit that callously promotes a regime that is responsible for immense death and unprecedented destruction. By doing so, the UN condones the atrocities committed by Syrian forces, and serves as a mouthpiece for Assad’s heinous war crimes."

  As set forth below, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a contradictory way, in a private event in the clubhouse of a group that has itself engaged in censorship, spoke on January 7 about the need for freedom of expression. 

  (Whether he's raised this in his native South Korea, where a newspaper editor faces criminal charges for insulting the president, is not known; the issue was not included in Ban's long read-out of his New Years call to South Korean president Park.)

  Perhaps Ban's Secretariat won't act on the SNC complaint because it came one day before the exhibition. Will its response be about "freedom of expression"?

  There are certainly distinctions to be made between Charlie Hebdo, the Syrian government and this photographer, and we're open to hearing all. But what does freedom of expression mean?

  How and to whom is news doled out at the UN, when something big, and bad in the case of today's Charlie Hebdo murders in France, happens in the wider world?

   As statements of outrage and condolence rolled in from capitals all over the world, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stayed silent. UN Television sent out an updated alert that the president of the Security Council would read a statement about the attack at 11:30 am -- but nothing about Ban Ki-moon, who could presumably speak faster and with fewer approvals.

  Ban Ki-moon's online public schedule for January 7 listed, and still at 2:45 pm only lists, two appointments: “12:00 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Mehdi Jomaa, Prime Minister of Tunisia and 3:30 p.m. Meeting with Mr. Jack Rosen, Chief Executive, Rosen Partners, LLC.”

    But UN correspondents who had paid money to UNCA,now the UN's Censorship Alliance, had been sent an e-mail that Ban would make remarks in the clubhouse the UN gives them, sometime after 10:15 am.

  Note: UNCA used this club for a faux "UN briefing" by then president Ahmad Jarba of the SNC, which now calls for the cancelation of a photo exhibit in the UN...

   There at 10 am, UN Television was putting cameras in -- but still, nothing in the UN Media Alert or even UNTV Pool report. It became clear, while standing in front of the UN Censorship Alliance's clubhouse, that Ban would be using this private event to make his remarks on Charlie Hebdo, and predictable take no questions.

   What is the relationship between Ban's UN and UNCA? Journalists accredited to cover the UN are told, if they ask, that they are not required to join UNCA - and Inner City Press is not a member, having quit the group after being elected to its Executive Committee for 2011-12 and before, and then co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access. 

   At noon on January 7, Inner City Press for FUNCA asked Ban's spokesman Dujarric why it was not in the Media Alert. Click here for video of that Q&A, and one on Sri Lanka, and from outside the private event, here.

   But the UN was using UNCA as a proxy for the whole press corps - trying, as more than one correspondent put it, to make them join UNCA to not “miss news” such as this.

  The past and returned president of UNCA, Giampaolo Pioli, has said that no correspondent who is a member of the Free UN Coalition for Access can be a member of UNCA. And the notification of and invitation to Ban's “remarks” was sent only to UNCA members, who pay dues money to UNCA.

  Is this appropriate?

  Inner City Press, after doing its best to cover Ban's short - and yes, questionless - remarks from the space outside the UN Censorship Alliance's clubhouse, Tweeted photo here,audio from source here, went to the day's UN noon briefing and asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric why Ban's prepared remarks on the Charlie Hebdo killings had not been in the Media Alert.

  Dujarric replied that it was too short notice and said that it had been “squawked” -- only to in-house journalists who were inside the UN building -- at 9:45 am.  But that left a full hour to e-mail a Media Alert update to the wider list of journalists accredited to cover the UN. It wasn't done: it's the UN's Censorship Alliance.

  Inner City Press for FUNCA asked Dujarric why it wasn't listed on Ban's public schedule, while Rosen Partners was (Inner City Press asked what that meeting was about but was not told.)

  Dujarric replied that speaking to UNCA -- ostensibly wishing happy New Year to the journalists covering the UN, in an event publicized only to the subset which pays money to UNCA -- was an in-house event. Correspondents can, it seems, become too embedded.

  When asked why he would hold a Ban Ki-moon news event without making sure it was in the Media Alert, Pioli said “we have nothing to do with the Media Alert.” And that is one of the problems, or reality: UNCA is not ABOUT wider access to news at the UN.

  In fact, UNCA board members including Pioli tried to get Inner City Press thrown out in 2012, after demanding thatarticles and even photographs be taken down. #WeAreCharlie, as they say.

  At the end of the day's UN noon briefing, in which another journalist reminded Dujarric that not all UN correspondents are members of UNCA and the UNCA only sends notices to its dues paying members, Dujarric said he would look into that. That is not enough.

  Tellingly, from the Twitter feed of UNCA, which Dujarric claims can be relied on as a middleman to reach the UN press corps, Inner City Press is blocked. Any particular media could do it - but with UNCA doing it, the UN must cease using UNCA as a middle-man, as its Censorship Alliance.

 Notices should be sent to all UN accredited media. There is no reason to use UNCA as a middle-man. That Ban should not partner in this way with censors is another question. Prepared remarks should be in the Media Alert.  This is basic - and the Free UN Coalition for Access will remain on the case.

   

After Syrian National Coalition Chief al-Bahra's UN Press Conference, Calls to "Neutralize Civilian Targets" in Syria

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 -- When the Syrian National Coalition's Hadi al Bahra belatedly held an open press conference at the UN on September 24, Inner City Press asked him about the place of the Kurds of Rojava in the SNC, and about the deadly measles vaccination campaign undertaken in territory ostensibly controlled by the opposition. See below.

  Hours after this press conference, the Syrian Coalition issued this:

Syrian Coalition Calls on the International Coalition to Neutralize Civilian Targets

The Syrian Coalition’s delegation, headed by Hadi al Bahra, met with the US special envoy to Syria Daniel Rubenstein and officials of the US State Department in New York yesterday. The meetings discussed the situation in Syria, especially the US-led international campaign against ISIS and Khorasan, a terrorist organization that is regarded the biggest threat to the United States and Europe, and also the Assad regime’s ongoing war on the Syrian people. The American officials strongly denied the Assad regime’s claims that the United States is coordinating with it with regard to the anti-ISIS campaign or that the United States asked for the Assad regime’s approval to carry out the strikes against ISIS positions in Syria. 

On the contrary, the United States Obama had publicly warned the Assad regime in advance not to interfere with any U.S. operations against ISIS, saying the Pentagon would respond forcefully. The meeting also discussed the Obama administration’s plan to arm and train the Free Syrian Army, and the situation in the town of Ayn al-Arab (Kobanî) northeast of Aleppo. During a meeting with representatives of the Friends of Syria group, Bahra called on the representatives of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, and Qatar to step up humanitarian aid to the Syrian people and to take tangible steps to stop Assad’s crimes against the Syrian people.  "terrorist, after he threw light on the events in Syria and Kobanî on in particular. Moreover, the Syrian Coalition’s delegation held meetings with Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, and with French President Francois Hollande and his Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. 

The French president expressed France's willingness to train and equip the Free Syrian Army. Bahra is going to deliver a speech in New York this evening to explain the position of the Syrian Coalition towards the US-led international coalition’s military strikes against ISIS in Syria and to reiterate the Syrian Coalition’s calls for giving support for the FSA that has been battling both ISIS and the Assad regime. Bahra will also call upon the international; coalition to neutralize the civilians areas and will express regret at the death of civilians during the anti-ISIS campaign. (Source: Syrian Coalition)

  What does it mean to "neutralize the civilian areas" then express regret? And are those al Bahra met with the ones to choose Syria's leaders?

  At his September 24 press conference, Hadi al Bahra said that Kurds “in the KNC” are in the Coalition, and claimed that they don't want their own territory, only federalism. “Kurds are in the coalition itself. Our vice president represents Kurdish National Council, they do not look for separate government or piece of land.” That might be some Kurds -- but not all. We'll have more on this.

  On the deadly “vaccination” campaign, Hadi al Bahra precisely like Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric called it only human error, “not correct labeling, having two types of medicine in the same cabinet.” That would be, muscle relaxes injected into children. What does this portend? This is a test case.

  Hadi al Bahra said that the US is in consultation with the SNC as it conducts airstrikes. Inner City Press understands that the US only told Syria's government once, the first time -- and did not tell Russia at all.

Footnote: The first two questions to Hadi al Bahra were from US state owned media, and France 24. Then later came RFI. This is part of why the Free UN Coalition for Access complained about Hadi al Bahra initially, and Ahmad Jarba throughout his tenure, only taking questions in these media's clubhouse of UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance. They only publicize the events to those who paid them money; the UNCA Executive Committee tried to get the investigative Press thrown out fo the UN. It is good that Hadi al Bahra, hosted by the UK, held an open briefing. But what about the answers? We'll have more on these.