Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa accused Israel on Saturday (June 12, 2025) of “exporting crises to other countries” by “fighting ghosts” and putting Syria in a “dangerous” situation because it insists on establishing a demilitarized zone in the south of the Arab country. He made these statements during his speech at the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital, another example of Syria’s international reintegration.
“We have developed from a crisis-exporting country into a factor of regional stability,” said the president, who overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad a year ago after a lightning offensive led by himself. Al Sharaa called on Israel to withdraw to positions before December 8, 2024, as the Jewish state deployed troops to a buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations.
“Israel responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching more than a thousand attacks and carrying out 400 raids into its territory. The last of these attacks was the massacre in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, which left dozens of people dead,” he said, referring to the Israeli raid just over a week ago. And he added that Israel was looking for enemies after the conflict with Hamas.
“We have prioritized forgiveness”
Al Sharaa noted that they are “working with influential countries around the world to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories,” adding that Syria “insists on Israel’s commitment to the 1974 withdrawal agreement” from the Golan Heights. “There are negotiations with Israel and the United States is participating in them. All countries support our call for Israel to withdraw to the borders by December 8,” he said.
He also pointed to the sectarian violence that has rocked the country, particularly last March with the massacres of 1,400 people belonging to the Alawite religious minority, a branch of Islam professed by the Al Assad family. “The fallen regime left us with many conflicts and set sects against other sects, but since the beginning of the struggle to deter aggression, we have put forgiveness and pardon first in the interests of a safe and sustainable future for the Syrian people,” he said.
When Al Sharaa was called an “exterrorist” by a journalist, he sought to remedy the situation by pointing out that it was “politicizing” to “say terrorist” since he had “never” “caused harm to a civilian.” “I fought on multiple fronts and fought with honor for more than 20 years,” he said.
DZC (EFE, AP)