Ali Al-Shaibi: As Liberation Draws Near, Al-Raqqa Is Ready To Throw Out Daesh

MEP: America’s decision to liberate Al-Raqqah province is serious but the most important issue is setting the right time to acquire the most benefit, as well as selecting the director of the affairs after the liberation

Northern Syria has witnessed great changes over the past 5 years, but the great revolution led to ISIS’s occupying Al-Raqqah province and to the creation a central base for terrorists. The people of this province, suffer from oppression and brutal treatment of ISIS to the degree to which they meddle so much even in the tiniest concerns of the lives of people. In addition, they are also dealing with the problems caused by America, keeping its eyes on the region. Because of the fact that America arrogates to itself the right to control the province and intends to take advantage of it in future, they have made any attempts in this regard, to prohibit the liberation of Al-Raqqa by either Kurdish or the Syrian government, and this brazenness continued to the extent that the Syrian army forces, seeking the release of the Al-Raqqah from the clutches of ISIS were targeted by American rockets.

This case as well as other similar issues were the subject of our conversations with an activist in Al-Raqqah, Doctor Ali Alshaibi who has been distressed by the events in the region.

Al-Waght: Would you please talk about the details of the events from social and economic dimensions, and also the attitude of the ISIS regime toward the people in the province, since you are aware of the situation in al-Raqqa province and you live within that atmosphere?

Doctor Ali Alshaibi: “primarily, it should be noted that it is the richest province in Syria and as noted in the textbooks in Syria, the first and second richest provinces of the country are, Al-Raqqah, and Latakia respectively because of tourism industry and the fact that they are located on the suburbs of Damascus. There are 6 million sheep and 12 million Olive trees and it is the only province where you can find camel. Broadest economic activity is agriculture and animal husbandry. Wheat is considered to be the staple, then barley and after that cotton are the second and third commonest products. Despite all these rich resources, people are suffering from worsening economic conditions in the shadow of the occupation by ISIS.

Percentage of illiteracy in the region increased to about 95 percent, which is a very high figure. Many of the nomads who live around the city in the Gulf countries have been trained and are under the influence of Wahhabi thought. Also, ISIS peddles such these perverted notions among people. Many nomads who did not care about religion and being religious before the occupation became officials of this terrorist regime. Upon its arrival, ISIS started to recruit people by threatening and giving rewards.

And as you know, human is seeking convenience and comfort. With the weakening of the central government, people resorted to the Free Army, and after the Free Army was weakened, they turned to Al-Nusra Front, and eventually the deterioration of Al-Nusra Front made them join ISIS. But now everyone is running away from ISIS, and we can say that the native families settled in the region have a huge part in the process of the awakening.

Today, people of Al-Raqqah are disgusted with ISIS barbaric behaviors and are impatiently eager to return to the Syrian government sides and I give this account based on reliable information and documented evidence.

Currently, a very small percentage of people are still pro-ISIS, the ones who benefit from the presence of ISIS and are being paid by ISIS. Former ISIS supporters and fans are not optimistic anymore and changed their mind and are waiting for the Syrian army to make a revolution against this terrorist regime. I myself gave the exact address of  my four-story house to the armed forces to target it with missiles because some ISIS terrorists have settled in there, and be certain that the people enthusiastically welcome the government forces and are fully ready to destroy ISIS.

Al-Waght: What is the reason for people’s hatred and revolution against ISIS?

Doctor Ali al-Shaibi: First, the people discovered the realities about the extremist religious and political claims of ISIS. Before ISIS’s attack, 6 Wahhabi had been living in Raqqa. One of them was my cousin, Salem Ahmed Hamoud, he received his degree in communications engineering in Philippines back in the 80s.

Personally, I wouldd get in to ideological debate with him. Suddenly, he was beheaded after the occupation of the city by ISIS. It seemed very strange to me. After a while I realized that this 6 people (Salem, and 5 of other Wahhabis) realized that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had a Jewish-American consultant named David Michael and Al-Baghdadi would not do anything without his permission. They had shared the news with people and talked about it, and this made ISIL behead all of those 6 people and send their heads to their families. Also, ISIS threatened their families not to arrange any services for their loss and urged themto quietly bury their beheaded bodies. So the fundamental reason for people’s awakening and changing their minds regarding ISIS was discovering their evil nature by the people.

In addition, ISIS forces are a bunch of looters, and people know this very well and have experienced its bitterness on a regular basis.

Alwaqt: some time ago, Kurds tried to liberate al-Raqqa. How did people react?

Dr Ali al-Shaibi: the number of Kurds in Al-Raqqa is not so large. But according to a plan, many of them were sent to the area to the point that they bought tracts of land and started constructing buildings and gained fortunes.

Also, after the spread of the news suggesting the Kurds’ attempts to liberate Al-Raqqa, ISIS has launched massive psychological operations against them, saying that Kurds would rape the citizens’ women and kill their children. ISIS managed to incite the people to stand against Kurds’ exodus to the region. However, I have heard quite the contrary to what was said by ISIS about the Kurds’ behavior toward the people. For instance, they liberated Tel Abyad, but they did not have any immoral and inhumane behavior toward people there.

While ISIS cast aspersions on the Kurds’ good intent and spread rumor about them, we have made earnest efforts to disabuse people of the notion that the Kurds have evil intents. However, our attempts did not make a big change.

Al-Waqt: In your opinion, what strategies will the US adopt in future regarding the liberation of al-Raqqa?

Dr Ali al-Shaibi: In fact, the US is determined to liberate al-Raqqa but is waiting for the right time to make a huge profit. Also, after the liberation, the US intends to make someone responsible who is trusted, which is definitely the Free Army or the Kurds. Undoubtedly, entrusting al-Raqqa to the Free Army can be used as a means of exerting pressure on Syria government during negotiations.