Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said that he will preserve the right of Syrians to demand that ousted President Bashar al-Assad be brought to justice, noting that US President Donald Trump supports the Syrian point of view regarding Israel’s withdrawal from the lands it occupied after December 8.
In an interview with the American newspaper The Washington Post, in response to a question about plans to protect Syrian sovereignty from internal and external forces, Al-Sharaa responded, “Syria entered into a war with Israel 50 years ago, then in 1974 the disengagement agreement was signed, and this agreement lasted 50 years.
But when the Assad regime fell, Israel canceled this agreement, expanded its presence in Syria, expelled the United Nations peacekeeping mission, and occupied new territories.
He pointed out that Israel “launched more than 1,000 air strikes in Syria since December 8, and this included bombing the presidential palace and the Ministry of Defense, but because we want to rebuild Syria, we did not respond to these attacks.”
“Trump supports our point of view”
Al-Sharaa added that the progress achieved by Israel in Syria does not stem from its security concerns, but rather from its expansionist ambitions. Israel has always claimed to be concerned about Syria for fear of the threats posed by Iranian militias and the Lebanese Hezbollah, “and we are the ones who expelled those forces from Syria.”
He continued: “We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have come a long way toward reaching an agreement, but to reach a final agreement, Israel must withdraw to its borders that existed before December 8. The United States is with us in these negotiations, and many international parties support our point of view in this regard. Today, we found that US President Donald Trump also supports our point of view, and will push as quickly as possible to reach a solution to this issue.”
He continued, “Talking about an entire demilitarized zone will be difficult; Because if any kind of chaos happens, who will protect her? If some parties use this demilitarized zone as a launching pad to attack Israel, who will be responsible for this? Ultimately, this is Syrian territory, and Syria must have freedom to dispose of its territory. Israel occupied the Golan Heights to protect Israel, and is now imposing conditions in southern Syria to protect the Golan Heights. So, after a few years, they may control central Syria to protect its south.
“The issue of Bashar al-Assad is a problem for Russia”
And whether he raised the issue of returning Assad, who is in Moscow, essentially protected by its government, to be tried for the crimes he committed? The Syrian President said: “We fought a war against Russia for ten years, and it was a harsh and difficult war. They announced that they had killed me several times, and we need Russia. Because it is a permanent member of the Security Council, we need its vote to be on our side on some issues, and we have strategic interests with it, and we do not want to push Russia to make alternative or other options in dealing with Syria.”
He added: “The issue of Bashar al-Assad is problematic for Russia, and our relationship with them is still in its infancy, and we, the Syrians, will preserve our right to demand that Assad be brought to justice.”
Common interests between Syria and America
Regarding his first historic visit to the White House, Al-Sharaa said that the most important goal is to begin building the relationship between Syria and the United States. Because it hasn’t been good, at all, in the last hundred years.
He added: “We were looking for common interests between the United States and Syria, and we found that we have many common interests that we can build on, such as security and economic interests. Syria’s stability will affect the entire region, and its instability will also affect it.”
In response to a question about his past as a fighter in Syria and Iraq against the United States, he said that fighting is not shameful if it is for noble goals, especially if you are defending your land and a people suffering from injustice, and I believe that this is a good thing that deserves praise.
I have fought many wars, but I have never caused the death of an innocent person, and when someone engages in combat, he must have a solid moral background.
The region has been affected by Western and American policies, and today, we have many Americans who agree with us that some of these policies were wrong, and that they caused many useless wars.
Regarding the fight against ISIS, he said that Syria, today, is able to bear this responsibility, and keeping Syria divided, or the presence of any military force outside the control of the government, represents the ideal environment for ISIS to flourish. I believe that the ideal solution is for the American forces present in Syria to supervise the integration of the “Syrian Democratic Forces” into the security forces of the central government, and the task of protecting Syrian lands will be the responsibility of the state.
