27 February 2017•Update: 27 February 2017
By Feride Pelin Inal
GAZIANTEP, Turkey
Political steps must be taken alongside military operations with a view to eliminating the threat posed by the Daesh terrorist group, an advisor to Syria’s pro-opposition interim government told Anadolu Agency.
“If the international community wants to be rid of Daesh, they must attack it on all fronts,” Momamed Wajih Juma, advisor to interim government Prime Minister Ahmad Tumah, said in an exclusive interview conducted in Turkey’s southern city of Gaziantep.
“This [the elimination of Daesh] can be accelerated by political resolutions taken in tandem with military operations,” he added, noting that the latter remained underway in the northern Syrian cities of Manbij and Raqqa following the recent of liberation of Al-Bab city.
Drawing a comparison between Daesh and the PYD (the PKK terrorist group’s affiliate in Syria), Juma said: “The PYD in Raqqa is no different from Deash. What the PYD is to Manbij, Daesh is to Raqqa.”
He went on to lament the fact that Daesh in Syria was still successfully recruiting new members.
“As long as the group continues to attract new recruits, the region will enjoy neither stability nor emancipation,” he said.
“But we can free the area with the help of local residents and the Free Syrian Army,” he added, also voicing his appreciation for the U.S.-led coalition forces taking part in the fight against Daesh.
Juma concluded by blaming both Iran and the Syrian regime for destabilizing the war-battered country.
“Daesh, the PYD, the Assad regime and Iranian militias are causing many Syrians to suffer,” he said. “Before Syrians can have a free country, we must first eliminate those involved [in causing instability].”
