Talk:Syrian Salvation Government

FSA affiliated or HTS affiliated
Isn't this HTS-affiliated government? Beshogur (talk) 20:48, 5 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Yes. The SSG is a HTS-sponsored government with no affiliation with any FSA group. Riad al-Asaad is part of the SSG but he only represents himself there, not the FSA. Editor abcdef (talk) 06:57, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

Flag change
Can we have a reliable source for the flag change please? BobFromBrockley (talk) 18:53, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks and  for sources on the flag. Can we look at them. The oldest one is from Kurdistan 24. I don't know if that is generally considered a reliable source (not been discussed at RSN) or which Kurdish faction it's linked to, but the article is manifestly inaccurate, or at least misleading, as it opens with "The Turkish-backed Syrian opposition has changed the flag it has been using since the outbreak of country’s 7-year-old civil war to now prominently feature an Islamic creed, the opposition council in north Syria announced on Sunday." It is refering to the SSG, which as we know is nothing to do with the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition. So I think this is a bad source to cite. Kurdistan 24 cite as their source the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, but with no link to the original; I think SOHR is a borderline source that should only be used with attribution and care, and I can't find the original in a quick scan so am dubious. The second is the Kremlin's Sputnik (news agency), which I believe is considered at best a borderline RS. This also has a misleading lede, as it says "the Syrian opposition, interlaced deeply with the former Nusra Front, has undergone another rebranding", thus blurring the opposition with the al-Nusra enlaced SSG. They cite a tweet by "Séamus Malekafzali, a writer at the International Review" (he's written two articles at International Review and his LinkedIn, Muckrack suggest he's not exactly a veteran expert, while this article suggests he was a university freshman in February), which phrases it more carefully than Sputnik itself does, and says the "General Syrian Conference of the #HTS-backed Syrian Salvation Government has come to a compromise resolution regarding the flying of the Syrian revolution flag", which is a slightly weaker claim than that there is a new flag. Sputnik adds a quote from an anonymous Assadist Twitter account "The'Nimr'Tiger". So, I would drop the Sputnik source. The third source is better, Asharq Al-Awsat, London-based, pro-Saudi but generally considered reliable. This source contradicts the Kurdish and Russian ones, as it opens with "The Turkish-based Syrian Interim Government and a number of military factions and opposition-affiliated organizations refused to change the flag that represents the Syrian revolution" (my emphasis). It goes on to say, confusingly, "Meanwhile, Syrian activists circulated a statement issued by the founding committee in the areas controlled by opposition faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib, Northern Syria. The statement called for a new flag in Northern Syria that resembles the Syrian revolution flag." (my emph) By the "founding committee", I'm guessing they're translating the "constituent assembly", i.e. the General Syrian Conference, but it's striking they say "called for" not actually changed. So, again, this seems insufficient. Then finally we have Al-Masdar, a hyper-partisan pro-government website, which has been discussed many times at the RSN with the conclusion that it can be used for uncontroversial claims about things like troop movements but not for anything controversial. Al-Masdar appeare to have recycled the Sputnik piece, as they often do, as it looks like it is word for word the same as Sputnik's copy and says "Source: Sputnik" at the end. I'm deleting that one, as it adds nothing to Sputnik, but I think we still need a better source. BobFromBrockley (talk) 10:36, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * You can see the new flag in this tweet from SSG official account https://twitter.com/GscSyrian/status/1072202800061472769?s=19 3bdulelah (talk) 00:32, 11 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes, the new flag is visible, but that doesn't itself mean the flag has been formally adopted; to say so would be WP:SYNTH. I'm not saying it isn't true; I'm just asking for a good source, otherwise I think we need to revert to old flag until we have one. BobFromBrockley (talk) 14:42, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

Translate the flag depicted texts (not one, but all, and future changes, and for different flags)
We are supposed not to hide information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:587:4125:C024:E22C:B2FF:FEAA:CA41 (talk) 23:12, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

Islamic testimony of faith; that's what they have on the new flag
Very intelligent! Very secular of them. They want their secular westerners to become enemies, and now push Vladimir Putin to execute them all. Very modern and secular of them to create more enemies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:587:4125:C024:E22C:B2FF:FEAA:CA41 (talk) 23:20, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

Is the SSG an Islamist group?
Is it? Sarsath3 (talk) 17:25, 16 April 2020 (UTC)