Khaberni - Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara confirmed that his visit to the United States and his meeting with President Donald Trump and Congress members aim to build strong partnership relations between Damascus and Washington, noting that the talks addressed lifting sanctions on Syria and had yielded good results.
Al-Shara clarified in an interview with the Washington Post that Israel's attacks do not stem from its security concerns, but from its expansionist ambitions, emphasizing that the south is Syrian land, and that it is not possible to reach a security agreement with Israel before its withdrawal from the territories it occupied on the eighth of December last year.
He said: "The main objective of the visit is to start building the relationship between Syria and the United States, because it was not good at all during the past decades. We were looking for common interests, and we found that we have many common interests that we can build on, such as security and economic interests."
Al-Shara added: "The stability of Syria will affect the entire region, and stability is linked to the economy and development and therefore lifting the sanctions, and this discussion has been ongoing for months, and I think we have reached good results. But we are still waiting for the final decision."
Austin Tice and coordination with the United States
In response to a question about the American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria in August 2012, Al-Shara said: "During the war waged by the previous regime against the Syrian people, we have about 250,000 missing Syrians, and this number also includes some people with other nationalities, such as Austin Tice. We were able to release an American citizen from prisons upon our arrival in Damascus, and we handed him over immediately to the American authorities, as we formed a committee for the missing, focusing on the people who hold American nationality and were lost in Syria, and we coordinate with the American authorities."
He added: "I met with some families of the missing, including Austin Tice's mother—she is a great woman—as she also met with my mother, because my mother had a similar story, where I disappeared for seven years, and everyone thought I was killed except my mother. She had a firm belief that I would return one day."
The transition phase and state rebuilding
Regarding the situation in Syria, Al-Shara explained that Syria has just emerged from a fierce war, and was living under a dictatorship and harsh regime that controlled the country for 60 years. Now it is going through a transitional phase and during this phase, there are conditions and laws different from stable countries.
Al-Shara said: "For example, after the end of the Civil War in the United States, did things settle down after one year? Or did it take all this long time, many years after the war? We are in the phase of rebuilding the state, restoring the law and rebuilding it, but I do not say there are no problems in Syria. This is not the end of the matter."
He explained that there are individual interests of some groups seeking autonomy, and some of these parties justify their interests using their sect or creed as a cover, adding "They talk about an existential threat to their sect or creed, but in Syria, we live in coexistence with different religious groups for more than 1400 years, and we are still here, and this diversity continues."
The war against ISIS
Regarding the war against ISIS, President Al-Shara said: "We were in a war with them for ten years, and we did so without coordinating with any Western power or any other country, and Syria today is capable of taking on this responsibility," warning that the division of Syria, or the presence of any military force outside the control of the government, represents the ideal environment for the flourishing of ISIS.
The agreement with SDF
Regarding the agreement with "SDF" Al-Shara believes that the best solution is for the American forces present in Syria to oversee the integration of "SDF" forces into the security forces affiliated with the central government. And that protecting Syrian lands should be the responsibility of the state.
Israeli aggressions and negotiations
Regarding the ongoing Israeli aggressions and their violation of Syrian lands and sovereignty, Al-Shara said: "Syria entered a war with Israel 50 years ago. Then in 1974, a disengagement agreement was signed between the two parties, and since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Israel has violated the agreement and expelled the UN peacekeeping mission, occupied new lands, and launched more than a thousand airstrikes in Syria since the eighth of December, including bombing the presidential palace and the Ministry of Defense, but because we want to reconstruct Syria, we did not respond to these aggressions."
He stressed that Israel's aggressions do not stem from its security concerns but from its expansionist ambitions and said: "Israel has long claimed that it has concerns about Syria because it fears the threats posed by Iranian militias and Hezbollah. We were the ones who expelled those forces from Syria."
He explained that Syria is engaged in negotiations with Israel, and has made great progress towards reaching a security agreement but to reach a final agreement, Israel must withdraw from the territories it occupied on the eighth of December.
He added, "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 President Trump also supports our point of view, and will push as soon as possible to reach a solution to this issue."
The South is Syrian land
In response to a question about whether Syria agrees to "disarm the region south of Damascus" Al-Shara confirmed: "This is Syrian land, and Syria must be free to deal with its lands," adding: "Israel occupied the Golan Heights under the pretext of protecting itself, and is now imposing its terms in southern Syria to protect the Golan. So, after a few years, they might occupy central Syria to protect southern Syria. And they will reach Munich through this path."
The relationship with Russia
Regarding relations with Russia, Al-Shara said: "We were at war with Russia for ten years, and it was a tough and difficult war - they declared that they assassinated me several times - we need Russia because it is a permanent member of the Security Council. We need their votes to be on our side in some issues, and we have strategic interests with them, we do not want to push Russia to alternative options or others in dealing with Syria."
He indicated that the issue of Bashar al-Assad poses a problem for Russia, and the relationship with them is still in its infancy explaining that we will maintain our right as Syrians to demand Assad's trial.
