Ahmed al-Sharaa, the top of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), stated that Syria won’t be used to destabilize every other Arab nation in an interview with Arab-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.
“Syria is bored with wars and getting used for others’ agendas,” al-Sharaa informed Asharq Al-Awsat. “We wish to restore belief and rebuild our nation as a part of the Arab world.”
“We are actually centered on state-building,” Al-Sharaa, higher often known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, stated. “The revolution ended with the regime’s fall, and we won’t permit it to unfold elsewhere. Syria won’t be a platform to threaten or unsettle any Arab or Gulf nation.”
al-Sharaa grew to become the de-facto chief of Syria after a lightning offensive by HTS rebels pushed former Syrian president Bashar Assad in another country. Western nations are cautiously opening channels with the HTS-backed interim caretaker authorities, fearing the rise of the Islamic State in Syria.
Yet, al-Sharaa claims that he has totally different plans for Syria, pointing to different neighbors, equivalent to Saudi Arabia, as examples of what a brand new Syria may seem like.
Progress for Syria
“We admire the event in Gulf nations, significantly Saudi Arabia’s daring plans and imaginative and prescient, and we aspire to attain related progress for Syria,” he informed Asharq Al-Awsat. “There are many alternatives for cooperation, particularly in financial and developmental areas, the place we will align our objectives.”
Despite earlier affiliation with Al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa acknowledged yesterday that he wouldn’t permit terrorists to conduct operations inside Syrian territory, based on reporting from Reuters. He additionally acknowledged that the rebels’ takeover of Syria set again Iran and pushed the Gulf area in direction of stability.
“Today, the Iranian challenge within the area has been pushed again 40 years, making the Gulf safer and steady,” Asharq Al-Awsat quoted him as saying.
“Syria had change into a platform for Iran to manage key Arab capitals, unfold wars, and destabilize the Gulf with medicine like Captagon,” al-Julani stated. “By eradicating Iranian militias and shutting Syria to Iranian affect, we’ve served the area’s pursuits—attaining what diplomacy and exterior stress couldn’t, with minimal losses.”
al-Sharaa stated that he was not trying to invade Lebanon and that his nation was focusing inward.
“We will not be searching for any type of dominance over Lebanon,” Asharq Al-Awsat reported. “We need a relationship based mostly on mutual respect and trade, with out interfering in Lebanon’s inside affairs. We have sufficient work to do in our personal nation.”
The HTS chief additionally outlined his authorities’s plans for searching for justice in opposition to these chargeable for crimes just like the occasions reported in Sedanaya jail.
“Their names are identified, and so they should be pursued,” he informed Asharq Al-Awsat.
However, al-Sharaa added that his authorities was not centered on revenge, noting the brutality of Assad’s regime. “We should not strategy this with a need for vengeance.”
He added that the interim authorities had created a ministry to trace the people who find themselves lacking, lifeless or alive. “We’ve damaged the limitations, and specialised organizations are actually serving to with this activity,” he informed Asharq Al-Awsat. This will even help households with paperwork like demise certificates and inheritance.”
He famous that whereas residents are extremely divided over the state of their nation, he hopes to create a rustic for all Syrians and that he wished authorized advisors to form this new period of presidency.
“Syria is numerous, and it is pure for there to be totally different opinions. This distinction is wholesome,” he stated.
“My purpose is to achieve a broad settlement and construct a rustic the place the rule of regulation helps resolve our variations,”
