'Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders': al-Sharaa tells the Post
In an extensive interview with the Washington Post on a range of topics, Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa commented on demilitarization and on Israel's entry into Syria after the fall of Assad's regime
In an hour-long interview with the Washington Post, former al-Qaeda fighter and current Syrian president Ahmmed al-Sharaa made several comments about Israel's recent military action in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime and the events of October 7, 2023, and the pursuing war.
The interview took place in Washington after the Syrian leader's meeting with US President Donald Trump. Following this meeting, sanctions on Syria were paused for six months, and the US announced its anticipation of positive future relations with the Middle Eastern country.
"The advances that Israel made into Syria are not coming from [their] security concerns but are coming from their expansionist ambitions," al-Sharaa said, referring to Israel's advancement into Syria following the toppling of Assad by Sharaa's rebel forces.
"Israel has always claimed that it has concerns about Syria because it is afraid of the threats that the Iranian militias and [Lebanon’s] Hezbollah represent. We are the ones who expelled those forces out of Syria."
In order to reach an agreement in negotiations with Israel, al-Sharaa added, "Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders."
He also said that the US 'supports Syria in their perspective' and that President Trump "will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this."
On the topic of the demilitarization of the southern Syrian region, al-Sharaa responded that if demilitarized, protecting the area would cause issues with responsibility for its defense, "because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it?"
"If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?" he added. "And at the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory," he said.
"Israel occupied the Golan Heights in order to protect Israel, and now they are imposing conditions in the south of Syria in order to protect the Golan Heights. So after a few years, maybe they will occupy the center of Syria in order to protect the south of Syria. They will reach Munich on that pathway," the Syrian president added.