Syria’s de facto leader not interested in new conflicts despite Israeli attacks Reuters

By Hatem Maher

(Reuters) – Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa said on Saturday that Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria but was not interested in getting involved in new conflicts as the country focuses on rebuilding after the end of Bashar. al-Assad’s reign.

Shara – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – leads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that ousted Assad from power last week, ending the family’s five-decade rule.

Israel has since moved into a demilitarized zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon overlooking Damascus, where it has taken over an abandoned Syrian military position.

Israel, which has said it does not intend to stay there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary border security measure, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria.

Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, condemned what they called Israel’s occupation of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

“Israeli arguments have become weak and no longer justify their recent violations. The Israelis have clearly exceeded the limits of engagement in Syria, which poses the threat of an unjustified escalation in the region,” Shara said in an interview published on the Syrian television website. , a pro-opposition channel.

The war-weary state of Syria, after years of conflict and war, does not allow new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not getting involved in disputes that could lead to further destruction.”

He also said that diplomatic solutions are the only way to ensure security and stability and that “uncalculated military adventures” are not wanted.

On Russia, whose military intervention nearly a decade ago helped tip the balance in Assad’s favor and which granted asylum to the ousted leader earlier this week, Shara said its relationship with Syria should serve mutual interests.

“The current phase requires careful management of international relations,” he added.

(This story has been corrected to say ‘family rule of five decades of iron fists’, not ’13-year rule’, in paragraph 2)