‘Syria will not engage in conflict with Israel’: HTS chief breaks silence on Israeli assaults
Syria’s de-facto new ruler has broken his silence on the Israeli regime’s ongoing assaults on the Arab nation since President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, saying that Damascus “will not engage” in a conflict with Tel Aviv.
“We are not about to engage in a conflict with Israel,” Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Syrian TV on Saturday, citing the country’s “weakened state” as the reason.
The founder of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and the former-deputy commander of Daesh (ISIS) also said that Israel has no longer any reason to attack the country because “Hezbollah and Iran are no more.”
However, Sharaa, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, failed to mention Israel’s numerous attacks on Syria’s military industries, destroying Syria’s navy, occupying vast swaths of lands on Golan Heights, and its plan to stay there “until winter.”
He said that HTS and its allies “have no hostilities with Iranian society,” but claimed the US- and Turkish-backed blitz that ousted the Assad government in Syria was “a victory over the dangerous Iranian political project in the region.”
Foreign-backed militants, led by HTS, took control of Damascus on December 8 and declared an end to President Assad’s rule in a surprise offensive that was launched from their stronghold in northwestern Syria, reaching the capital in less than two weeks.
Syria has been gripped by militancy since 2011, when various armed groups, sponsored by Western countries and their regional allies, began their attempts to overthrow the Syrian government. Meanwhile, Iran and Russia supported the legitimate Syrian government in its fight against the militants.
During his interview, Sharaa confirmed that HTS and its allies are in contact with Western countries and are “holding discussions with Britain to restore its representation in Damascus.”
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has also confirmed that the US is in direct contact with HTS, even though the US government had issued a $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head.
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