"Motherland is more important than opposing the government", said Maher Merhej, secretary-general of the Syrian opposition party Al Chabaab in his interview to the Fars News Agency (FNA) on August 31.

Continue after the break.

Does it mean that the opposition is joining the Syrian army's side? A correspondent of the Voice of Russia talked to Maher Merhej about that.
As a representative of the Syrian opposition, could you talk in more detail about your attitude to the threat of the US military invasion into Syria?
Naturally, we have our own opinion and attitude to all that is going in Syria: to the course taken by the Syrian government as well as their proposals for the development of the country. We agree with some of that, with something we don't agree. But at the moment if the USA decides to strike we are facing the threat to the national security of Syria. 
Neither Bashar al-Assad's regime nor the Syrian opposition used the chemical weapons - Maher Merhej
As Syrian people, we are against any military invasion into Syria. The use of chemical weapons in Damascus gives nobody the right to interfere in our internal affairs. Besides that, residents of the Eastern part of Damascus who witnessed that attack accuse the rebels of using the chemical weapons. They submitted the proof to both the authorities and the international experts. Neither Bashar al-Assad's regime nor the Syrian opposition used the chemical weapons. According to the conclusions of the experts, it was the radical Islamists who came from the Turkish territory that used the chemical weapons.
The use of chemical weapons in Damascus gives nobody the right to interfere in our internal affairs - Maher Marhej
I can state not only on behalf of all the opposition parties of Syria, but also on behalf of the entire Syrian people that the USA would not avoid punishment if it launched one single missile at us. Now it is more important for us not who is in power, but how to protect our homeland. We did not join the government's side, but we stood up against the attack on our people and our army, which is to protect our security.
You are talking about the need to help the current authorities to jointly cope with the external attack. Are many opposition leaders against the US invasion? The leader of the so-called Free Syrian Army is literally begging the US Congress to approve the strike against his "beloved" motherland.
No, I don't believe that all the armed rebels would change their position. Only moderate groups from the internal opposition are able to join the government's side and stand up to the Americans. Yes, those people are against the government, they don't agree with the authorities, they have their demands, but they would not fight against the Syrian people. When the destruction of the Syrian people is on the agenda, there is no time for arguments. It is madness if the world believes that we, the Syrian people, only wait for an attack on ourselves.
And the head of the Free Syrian Army revealed his true face. From his latest statements it became clear who he was and who he worked for. The person who welcomes a military invasion into his own country only to pay back the government he is like a son who permits to rape his mother to punish his father.
Chemical attack in Damascus must not be used as pretext to meddle with our home affairs - Syrian oppositioner Maher Merhej
Syria’s opposition leader and head of the local Syrian National Youth Party al-Chabaab has warned the US that a military attack would be considered a threat to Syria’s national security. "As Syrians, we are against any military intervention in Syria. A chemical attack in Damascus must not be used as a pretext to meddle with our home affairs," al-Chabaab’s Secretary General, Maher Merhej, said in an exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia.
He threatened that all American targets in the Middle East would be crawling with hordes of Syrian suicide bombers.
"Despite our opposition to the Syrian government, we put our homeland above other interests. We have gathered several suicide battalions that will target US interests in the Middle East." 
Maher Merhej said a US airstrike against Syria would destabilize the region. 
"Even a limited military operation of US armed forces will inevitably result in a full-scale war after the Syrian people strike back," he said. 
The al-Chabaab opposition party leader denied the claims that either internal opposition or the government had used nerve gas sarin on its own nation. 
"Chemical weapons were used by radical Islamist forces that crossed over from Turkey."

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