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Opposition: Plot to Establish Alawite State | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A baby is rescued following Syrian government air strikes in Aleppo last month Getty Images


Riyadh- Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the Syrian opposition delegation of High Negotiations Committee (HNC) in Geneva, revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper the existence of a plot aimed at establishing an independent Alawite state which chunked out from Syrian grounds and will go by “Handy Syria;” i.e. regions that Assad regime seek to retake.

In his phone interview on Saturday, al-Zoubi confirmed that based on a Russian plan, which is getting Russian-Iranian collaboration, mayhem will be sparked at the core of Syria in the upcoming few hours.

The campaign will launch on the premise of annihilating all signs of revolution and will set the foundations to Syria shifting to federalism.

Alawites, also known as Alawis, are part of a branch of Islam, which is centered in Syria.

As for Russian intentions on establishing a “Handy Syria”, al-Zoubi said that the Russians are looking to establish a state for themselves that encompasses the landscape between Afrin- a district as well as a city in northern Syria and a part of the Aleppo governorate- all the way to al-Khamsi area, in order to isolate and besiege the southern side of Turkish borders.

The takeover will inhibit supply delivered to the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Not to mention that it will also cut off the Syrian people residing in those particular areas. The eventual aim of the plot is to provide Alawites a northern state. However, a part of the western side of Aleppo is expected to be handed down to the Kurds.

Kurds in Syria are people born in or residing in Syria and who are of Kurdish origin. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, comprising less than 10% of the country’s population.

On the U.S. refusing the Russian proposal on striking al-Nusra Front, al-Zoubi argued that the rebuff is for mere media purposes.

“There is frequent targeting by the U.S.-led coalition forces against al-Nusra Front, and the first air campaign pounded the rural areas of Aleppo, during which Washington destroyed four al-Nusra Front group strongholds,” said al-Zoubi.

On its behalf, the U.S.-led coalition air campaign continued air dropping flyers urging the civilians to leave Raqqa city, located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometers east of Aleppo.

However, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chairman Rami Abdulrahman said that the flyers dropped are a part of a psychological warfare, as he downsized the significance of the event. The flyers also aim to have civilians rise against ISIS, which currently controls the city.