Statement on Regarding the US Treasury sanctions on the “Suleiman Shah, and Al-Hamza” factions

Syrian Future Movement
Political Office
Statement No: ( 2023.08.02 )
Issued on: 2023.08.16

Regarding the US Treasury sanctions on the “Suleiman Shah, and Al-Hamza” factions

Last Monday, 17-8-2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury issued a statement according to the Executive Order (EO) 13894, which classified the factions of (Suleiman Shah, and Al-Hamza) as ranks of the Syrian National Army. The statement named “Mohammad Al-Jasem” and his brother “Waleed Al-Jasem”, both leaders of the Suleiman Shah Brigade, and “Saif Bulad Abu Bakr”, the leader of the Hamza Division, for their involvement in severe human rights violations. Additionally, an auto-sales agency owned by “Mohammad Al-Jasem” was identified.

• The Syrian Future Movement believes that these sanctions are a natural progression in an environment where corruption is rampant and there is a glaring absence of the rule of law.
• The Syrian Future Movement regrets that we, through the very official Syrian opposition institutions, could not prosecute the corrupt and criminals! This is evidenced by the failure of the committee established by the “Syrian Islamic Council”, which acknowledged the existence of criminal acts contrary to the law and the spread of corruption but could not hold them accountable due to the presence of a corrupt protective cover for them.
• The Syrian Future Movement sees in the statement of the Ministry of Defense in the Interim Government a danger that the US sanctions threaten all the Syrian opposition institutions, including the Ministry of Defense in the interim Syrian government and all the formations of the Syrian National Army.
• The Syrian Future Movement holds Turkey, as the guardian state over northern Syria, responsible for supporting individuals and factions that rightfully reached the US sanctions lists. They see in the statement of the Ministry of Defense in the interim Syrian government an alignment with the endless Turkish support for them, and not holding them accountable for their ongoing crimes.
• The Syrian Future Movement calls on the free people, revolutionaries, and Syrians in the northwestern regions of Syria to expose individuals and entities that aim to label the Syrian revolution and opposition as criminal, which threatens the structure of the Syrian opposition and constitutes a significant turning point in the history of the entire revolution. This could internationally align it with the Syrian regime.
• The Syrian Future Movement calls on faction leaders to take the matter seriously, and to agree on a national legal contract by establishing Syrian channels of follow-up and accountability to restrain the corrupt from tyranny in liberated areas.
• The Syrian Future Movement sounds the alarm and warns the Syrian opposition, armed factions, and the free Syrian people that continuing to protect the corrupt and criminals means tarnishing the purity of the revolution, and losing the battle of values, morality, nationalism, and law against the Assad regime. This might turn the Syrian situation into an open conflict between criminals and corrupt individuals, not between a free people calling for a rule of law on one side, and the oppressive and criminal Assad regime on the other.