Beloved ones in dear Syria,
On this blessed day, I address you to extend my congratulations on the joyous occasion of Eid and the longing for the homeland that deeply moves me. I pray to God to bring it back to our people, the Arab and Islamic worlds, with all goodness and tranquility.
For many years, despondency has marked the country under a regime that violated sanctities, suppressed freedoms, violated dignities, spread corruption, sowed fear, and caused painful suffering for our people.
Syria’s great tragedy is that its autocratic ruler cannot distinguish between right and wrong, justice and injustice, lawful and unlawful, and truth and falsehood. He disregards the people and deploys security apparatuses to protect his tyranny and corruption.
Ask yourselves, brothers, after six years of his rule, what has Bashar al-Assad done other than spreading corruption, increasing suffering, and making wrong decisions that weakened national unity and placed Syria in a state of Arab and international isolation, diminishing its capabilities in liberating the Golan Heights and supporting the Palestinian people?
Today, I address you with this message to reassure you that the corrupt and despotic regime is on the verge of collapse. Soon, the opportunistic and hypocritical ruler, along with those who rallied around him, will be exposed, and only the family of corruption and its accomplices will remain in the grip of justice.
Oh, sons of my beloved homeland,
The change will not come by replacing one ruler with another but by replacing an autocratic individual system with a democratic system. In a democratic state, the rule of law and institutions prevail, and the people are the source of power and authority.
The change will be qualitative, restoring to Syria its vitality and status. The democratic system, shaped by your choices, must address the following fundamental issues in a coherent and synchronized manner:
- Political reform that guarantees public and individual freedoms, ensures basic and equal rights without discrimination for all citizens, allows political activities, the formation of parties, freedom of the press, and the enactment of a new electoral law that enables the free choice of constitutional institutions by the people.
- Economic reform must address the economic issue at its roots through a prepared program leading to economic development, removing all obstacles, encouraging investment, liberating the national economy from the constraints that caused its crises, raising the standard of living for citizens, achieving a balance between wages and prices, launching individual and collective initiatives, and creating job opportunities. Under these reforms, the state becomes responsible for achieving economic and social balance.
- Reforming state institutions and its judicial and administrative bodies, uprooting the causes of corruption, implementing the principle of equal opportunities in selecting employees for government institutions, establishing a system for oversight and accountability, and focusing on developing professional competence and adopting incentive principles.
- Implementing radical reforms in the education sector at all levels to prepare competent generations capable of advancing the country, achieving progress and development, and standing out for their ability to innovate and contribute.
- Giving special attention to the youth of Syria who embody hope and the future, contributing to the country’s rise and progress, and regaining its role in both the Arab and international arenas.
Citizens, brothers,
On this blessed day, I invite you to prepare for a soon-to-come day when you participate in delivering the country from injustice, oppression, corruption, and tyranny. Reclaim your right to freely choose your constitutional institutions and the leadership of the country, as well as their oversight and accountability in the context of a democratic state where you are the authority.
May God’s peace be upon you, dear sons of Syria, and until we meet soon in proud Damascus, with the permission of God Almighty.
