After the statement of Seif El Adl: The future of relationship between Sham Liberation Organization and Turkey

Aya Ezz

The American newspaper Long War Journal published on Thursday, August 15 a report dealing with a statement issued recently by Seif El Adl, leader of al-Qaeda through one of his media platforms on the social networking site Telegram.

In his statement, Seif al-Adl spoke about the political situation in Syria, specifically the relationship between the armed factions and Turkey, especially after the intellectual and political differences that occurred in the last period.

In the same statement, al-Adl talked about the story of the integration of armed factions in northern Syria, saying: “integration plan talked by the factions in northern Syria will not succeed and if successful will not resolve the existing dispute, because Turkey wants to eliminate any faction at the Islamic moment Islamic in Syria.

It explained that the al-Qaeda leader believes that Turkey is the reason behind the differences of the Syrian factions in Idlib, to achieve its interests in the region.

Tense relationship

The relationship between the so-called Sham Liberation Organization and Turkey began to fluctuate in late 2018, particularly in September, since Ankara changed its political stances and allied itself with Russia and the United States to stop fighting in Idlib province, according to several Syrian media reports.

Since then, the relationship between the two sides began to be tense, as Turkey became committed to the laws and treaties related to the fight against terrorism, while the Commission opposed everything Turkey does and considers against its policy, before Turkey declared the body a terrorist faction.

In response, the Commission prevented armed groups in northern Syria from participating with the Turks in any military battle against the Kurds or any political agreements except as a mediator.

The Commission has also prevented the faction called the Levant Corps, one of the factions close to Turkey, from coordinating or communicating with the Turkish army or regime without its prior permission.

The future of relationships

According to the American newspaper Long War Journal, Turkey is currently obliged to deal with Sham Liberation Organization which it considers “terrorist” because the latter is fulfilling Turkey’s interests in fighting the Kurds and pressuring the Syrian state. They use them at any time against the Kurds, so despite the differences, they still support them financially, especially since Abu Muhammad al-Golani, the leader of the Commission, earlier welcomed any future Turkish operation targeting the region in the east of the Euphrates against the Kurds.

The newspaper predicted that Turkey would direct armed factions loyal to them to hit the Sham Liberation Organization when they do not need their presence, just as it did with the organization Daesh which benefited from his presence on the border with them and then used the factions to expel him from the cities of Al-Bab, Tripoli and others.

The Long War Journal pointed out that there are several reasons for the collapse of the alliance between Turkey and the Sham Liberation Organization, including the position of the body rejecting the Astana agreement, which may prompt Ankara to abandon the body and leave it alone without financial and military support, until it reaches a solution with Russia.