Arab-Israeli party official denies backing Assad

The head of the communist faction in the Arab-Jewish Hadash party — one of four parties that makes up the Joint (Arab) List bloc in the Knesset — denied on Sunday that he expressed support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Adal Amar on Friday night had released a statement praising the “unification of Aleppo,” after the eastern part of the Syrian city fell to the control of regime forces.

“The unification of the city of Aleppo from the hands of terrorist groups is a turning point in repelling the Takfiri terrorism in Syria, and in thwarting the imperialist attack and reaction on the nations of the region,” wrote Amar in a post published on the party’s Facebook page.

Takfiri terrorism refers to Muslims who accuse other Muslims of apostasy, and is generally used to refer to hard-line Islamist terror groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

“The unification of Aleppo brings an end to the plans to divide Syria, and shows the failure of the American, Turkish, Saudi and Qatari strategies, and their inability to continue to protect the terror groups that destroyed Syria and sowed terror among the civilians,” he continued.

“I support a political solution centered around the eradication of terror and the establishment of a political process that combines all Syrian forces that believe in a united, independent, democratic and pluralistic Syria,” the statement concluded.

Thousands of trapped civilians and the remaining opposition fighters in Aleppo were waiting for evacuations to resume on Saturday, a day after the operation was suspended by the Syrian government.

Syrian forces this week moved to assert full control over the east of the city, which had been held by opposition fighters since 2012.

Amar’s statement caused a stir among party activists and pointed to conflict within the party, which is headed by the leader of the Joint (Arab) List, Ayman Odeh.

“Where is it written that we support Assad? We support the Syrian people and condemn hurting civilians,” Amar told Army Radio on Sunday.

A few hours after Amar made his online comments Friday night, Odeh released a statement criticizing the radical nature of the rebel groups fighting in Aleppo, while also placing blame on the Syrian regime.

“The beginning of the tragedy in Syria is the authoritarian regime that controlled it for decades. Opposition to the regime has given birth to a popular struggle that each person of conscience and morals must support. But unfortunately, this struggle has been hijacked by savage groups, like Jabhat al-Nusra (an al-Qaeda affiliate) and the Islamic State, so it has become inhumane to stand besides these dark forces,” the party leader said in a statement.

Odeh said the Islamic State is an immediate threat to the entire region that must be eliminated. The Joint List leader then called for an end to the “terrible crimes being committed” in Aleppo and added he supports a “democratic, independent and united Syria, free of foreign control.”

MK Dov Khenin, who is also a member of Hadash’s communist faction, known as Maki, also said Friday his “opposition to the jihadists and their support from Gulf countries, Turkey and from outside of the region, was not and is not a show of identification with the Syrian regime.”

The Balad party, part of the Joint List, in what seems like an underhanded critique of the Maki leader’s Friday statements, on Saturday lashed out against those hailing the Syrian regime’s success in Aleppo.

“The systematic flattening of entire towns and mass expulsion of their residents are not ‘victories.'”

Balad called for an immediate cease-fire, and added, “Mass murder and expulsion are not the key to stability, and the dance of ‘victory’ on the blood in view of the scenes of total destruction and devastation of Aleppo is inappropriate.”

Independent journalist Noam Sheizaf, who was described in Haaretz as a Hadash party activist, said the statement from the communist faction “casts a terrible shadow on the supporters and voters of the party (and I’m among them).”

Zehava Galon, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, criticized Amar’s seemingly pro-Assad comments, saying, “the constant support of senior Maki officials for Assad and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a stain on that party, almost as much as Aleppo itself is a frightening stain on the world’s conscience.”

Aleppo has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year Syrian civil war that has killed more than 310,000 people.

In the last week, Syrian forces, backed by Russia, drove out the last remaining rebel-held enclaves in a brutal onslaught that is said to have killed hundreds.

Times of Israel Staff and AFP contributed to this report.