Turkish media has published an interview with the Secretary-General of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in which he makes comments highly critical of Iran and Hezbollah. The interview begins:
The Syrian issue entered a critical juncture after the Syrian government refused the solution offered by the Arab League in order to put an end to the killing machine and stop the situation from moving further toward a full scale war. This development came along with the regional and international efforts to convince Russia to change its position on Syria after the failure of all previous initiatives to contain the situation under the Arab League umbrella. In Turkey, the foreign minister of which stated “Should the Syrian regime continue to kill its people and refuse all the Arab solutions, the door to intervention by the United Nations will certainly open, which Turkey will then not hesitate to support,” USAK expert Ali Hussein Bakeer conducted an interview with the Secretary General of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Riad al-Shaqfa, who is currently staying in Istanbul. Answering questions about the latest news from Syria, al-Shaqfa stated that the Syrian people will not pull back and the revolution will continue until the Assad regime is toppled. He also said that the Syria resolution should be discussed in the Security Council, stressing the refusal of any kind of dialogue with the Syrian regime or sharing the power with it, and emphasizing the necessity of answering the public’s demands to topple al-Assad. Al-Shaqfa indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood rejects Iran’s offers and does not trust Hezbollah. When it comes to the issue of minorities, al-Shaqfa stressed that Syrians did not used to have the concepts of majority and minority. He further stated that it was only under the bad administration of al-Assad that they started to hear about them, emphasizing the importance of the citizenship principle in which everyone has equal rights and responsibilities. “
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In 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported on moves by the U.S. Government to reach closer relations with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.
For a comprehensive account of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, go here.
For a comprehensive account of Islamist activities in Syria, go here.