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The Syrian revolution was already in full decomposition, caught between Islamist extremism and the regime's attacks, when Gabriel Moushe was arrested by police loyal to Bashar Asad at his residence in Qamishli on December 19, 2013. He would not recover the Freedom until June 22, 2016.

Although the well-known 57-year-old activist, a member of the group of opponents who signed the Damascus Declaration of 2005 - one of the first proclamations against the power held by Assad - and former leader of the Assyrian Organization (ADO), acknowledges that he "lived many bitter experiences "in prison states that it can be considered graceful.

There he ran into prisoners like Ragheed al Tatari, "a pilot who refused to repress the Syrian people" - Moushe points out - and has been in prison for 38 years. "There was another Palestinian, Walid Barakat, who has been 37 years old. Lebanese prisoners who have been there since the civil war (from that country, which ended in 1989), Jordanians ...", he says.

His own knowledge has led him to distrust the power based in Damascus but also ensures that the present agreement between the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northwest of the country and the Asad government is "the least bad of all options."

Could you explain what the treaty signed between the Kurdish and Damascus groups consists in? It was a question of avoiding genocide at the hands of the Turkish army and that the war did not extend to the entire border. The Russians have given permission to the Turks to advance 5 kilometers within the Syrian territory, but nothing more, and they wanted to control 35 (kilometers) .It was also tried not to repeat the same agreement that was signed in Daraa (in 2018), which did not It has worked because opponents are being killed and arrested. That is why everything here will be under the control of Russia and the SDF will become a division under Russian command. For practical purposes, the administration (pro Kurdish) will continue to operate temporarily in offices that will wave the Syrian flag because the regime does not have enough troops. But, precisely after what happened in Daraa, do you trust that Damascus will respect what was agreed? I didn't trust the regime yesterday, nor today nor will I do it tomorrow. I believe that the SDF considers that it has obtained a favorable agreement. Perhaps in the short term, but my opinion is that in the long term the autonomy under Kurdish control has concluded, Rojava (so called the entity) will disappear. The Kurds are the losers. They will be the ones who will pay the price as it happened when Syria and Turkey agreed to their expulsion (in 1988, which led shortly after their capture). Kurds who are not Syrians will have to return to Qandil (in Iraq). Were you surprised by the decision to withdraw US troops adopted by Donald Trump? No, countries only work based on their own interests. I don't want to call it treason either. America was not here to help the Kurds but for two basic reasons of its foreign policy: to end the Islamic State and prevent Iran from expanding its influence. What happens is that this decision, which I do not want to call stupid, goes totally against those objectives, implies an absolute negligence of all the foreign policy that was said to defend Washington. Can we begin to say that Bashar Asad has won the war in Syria ? Yes, but I also tell you one thing, Damascus has to understand that either it changes or even if it manages to win the military battle and does not solve the underlying problems that generated the revolution, they will reproduce again. It is what is happening in Iraq or in Egypt. Without international support and current sanctions, Bashar cannot rebuild the country. There are many people in the regime who are suffering from the economic shortage, so the only solution is to reach an agreement on the new constitution that we will begin to discuss next October 30 in Geneva (Moushe is part of the newly formed Syrian constitutional committee sponsored by the ONU). Our main concern now is that after this new victory the regime thinks that these discussions are not worth it and try to boycott them. How was your experience in prison? When they arrested me they tortured me and insulted me much more than the rest, do you know why ? Because I have always defended peaceful resistance, no member of my organization ever wielded a weapon. I was always against the revolution responding in a violent way, to militarization. And he was also a Christian. The jailers told me: Christians have to be with the regime, not against. It was a very bitter experience. I was in many prisons. It improved when I was transferred to a civil prison, although there I had to rent a place in one of the bunk beds to be able to sleep. It cost me 20,000 Syrian pounds a month (about 40 euros).

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