Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said early on Wednesday that negotiations between Damascus and Israel come close to reaching an agreement each time before Tel Aviv backtracks in the final stages. He stressed that Syria would continue on the diplomatic path, but said protecting Syrians' security and rights, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories they seized after the fall of the former regime, must precede any discussion of lasting peace.
Al-Sharaa made the remarks during a dialogue session in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, moderated by former US official Brett McGurk and organised by the Atlantic Council's Syria Project.
Rising tensions and the negotiating track with Israel
The dialogue covered relations with Israel, the foreign military presence, the transitional period, conditions in Lebanon and Iraq, as well as army-building and the missing persons file. Al-Sharaa said Israeli forces had continued, since the fall of the former regime, to launch strikes and carry out incursions and arrests at various locations inside Syria, and had seized additional territory after 8 December 2024.
He added that Damascus had decided to address these developments through diplomacy, dialogue and negotiations, with the help of countries that maintain friendly relations with Israel, including the United States. He said the two sides had held several negotiating sessions, and that the talks had reached what he described as 90% of an agreement before Tel Aviv backtracked and offered various reasons.
He stressed that this backtracking would not prompt his country to leave the diplomatic path, saying that talk of peace could not come before ensuring the security of Syrians and safeguarding their rights. In response to a question about the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel before settling the Golan issue, al-Sharaa revealed that direct talks between the two sides had begun about a year ago.
Damascus's priority, he said, was the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they entered after the fall of the former regime and their return to the positions they held in 1974, before moving on to discuss security arrangements. He added that successful security arrangements could pave the way for discussions on lasting peace, but stressed that the Golan is Syrian territory recognised by the United Nations and that its status is not subject to negotiation.
Regarding Israeli security concerns, he said Damascus discussed them continually and proposed the possibility of forming an international committee to examine them and distinguish between genuine concerns and perceptions not based on facts.
Al-Sharaa also addressed US President Donald Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, saying Trump had supported Syria and taken what he described as a historic decision to lift sanctions on it, and that the two had a distinctive relationship. He recounted joking with Trump during a visit to the White House, asking why New Jersey was not given to the Israelis, since the US president owned it, while he did not own the Golan to give it to them.
Setting the joke aside, al-Sharaa stressed that the Golan belongs to its people and that neither the Syrian president, the US president nor anyone else has the right to relinquish it or give it to others. He thereby distinguished between his appreciation of Trump's positions towards Syria and his rejection of the US decision concerning sovereignty over the Golan.
Regarding Israeli concerns following the events of 7 October, al-Sharaa said he understood what some innocent people had suffered, but rejected turning those events into the basis for all Israeli policies or a criterion for determining policy towards Syria. He also called for an understanding of what had happened in Gaza, saying that more than 70,000 people had been killed there, including large numbers of women and children.
He said it was illogical to formulate Israel's policy towards Syria on the basis of the events of 7 October and that this would only lead to more security threats. If Israel wanted to protect its security, he said, it should respect the security of others and change a policy that, in his words, created problems in its surroundings under the pretext of preserving security.
He added that regional stability would help all its inhabitants, including Israelis, feel safe. He called for relations to be built on mutual respect, alongside the development of economic and trade links, while stressing that the current priority remained protecting Syrians and their rights and addressing the developments on the ground that followed the fall of the former regime.
Damascus seeks to end foreign military bases
On the foreign military presence, al-Sharaa said Damascus sought to end the presence of any foreign military bases on Syrian territory, ensuring the state's full sovereignty. He explained that the new authorities had inherited the Russian presence when they arrived in Damascus, but had chosen to open a dialogue with Moscow rather than address the issue by other means.
He said the number of Russian bases had, according to him, fallen from about 170 to two. He added that lengthy discussions had produced an agreement to convert the two remaining bases into facilities for training the Syrian army, instead of maintaining them in their previous form. He stressed that any future foreign military presence should have a clear legal status approved by the People's Assembly and include guarantees for the rights of the Syrian state.
He said his country did not need foreign military bases in the near term, favouring the development of respectful diplomatic relations with neighbouring states and countries friendly to Syria. Al-Sharaa described the departure of US forces from Syria as the most successful US military withdrawal, saying it had taken place safely and through an understanding, without war breaking out.
He added that the area had remained calm during the operation and that the Syrian state and its forces had taken control of it after the withdrawal. Speaking about north-eastern Syria, he said the state now controlled most of the country's territory, particularly areas that had been under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, known as the SDF.
He added that these forces had been disbanded and were now operating under the state's umbrella, while stressing the need to distinguish between integrating an armed faction and the way the Kurdish community and its rights were treated. He said the authorities had issued, before the integration process, a decree recognising the cultural and linguistic rights of Kurds, considering recognition of these rights a duty of the state and a right of Kurds living in Syria, rather than part of arrangements solely concerning the integration of the armed forces.
Steps in the transitional phase and drafting the constitution
On the political front, al-Sharaa said the People's Assembly would form a committee to review laws, alongside another committee tasked with beginning the drafting of the constitution. He said he believed the process would be completed before the end of the five years set for the transitional phase.
He explained that the transitional process began by establishing security, followed by holding an inclusive national conference, issuing the constitutional declaration, forming the government and finally electing the People's Assembly. He described the elections as not ideal but appropriate for the stage, noting that the assembly had begun holding sessions and listening to ministers to question them about current issues.
The constitutional declaration signed by al-Sharaa on 13 March 2025 sets the transitional phase at five years from the date it enters into force. Al-Sharaa said work to review laws and draft the constitution was expected to proceed within this timeframe.
Asked about the possibility of standing in the next presidential election, al-Sharaa said he had not considered it so far and that his focus was on serving the people and developing Syria politically and economically. He did not rule out standing if he believed the task required him to remain, explaining that avoiding or evading responsibility did not always exempt a person from it.
He added that a person was required to shoulder responsibility when he believed he was capable of carrying it out. He said returning to his normal life would be better for him personally because of the exhaustion caused by this path, but that he would continue if he concluded that his presence was still necessary. On Lebanon, al-Sharaa said Damascus's policy was based on supporting the Lebanese government and state institutions, and restricting weapons to its control.
He stressed that no weapons should operate outside the rule of law or beyond the authority of the Lebanese state. He added that Syria sought to help improve economic and social conditions in Lebanon and overcome the problems he said the former Syrian regime had caused there.
Damascus's policy towards Lebanon, Iraq and the region
He also referred to Damascus's communication with the Lebanese government on political reform and the proper implementation of the Taif Agreement. Asked whether the Syrian armed forces might play a role in Lebanon, al-Sharaa said his country was dealing with its own problems and internal challenges, while acknowledging that instability in Lebanon directly affected Syria.
Regarding Iraq, al-Sharaa said the US war had left a heavy legacy and contributed to expanding Iranian influence. He added that the Iraqi prime minister was working to control the weapons of groups he described as operating outside state institutions. He stressed that Damascus wanted to strengthen its economic relations with Baghdad and secure a safe corridor for Iraqi exports, particularly petroleum products.
He revealed a project to link Iraqi oilfields to Syrian ports, creating an alternative route to Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal. He said the pipeline between the two countries had existed since the 1950s but later stopped because of poor political relations, and that Damascus and Baghdad were currently working to address mistakes and problems accumulated over past decades.
Al-Sharaa described relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq as very good, encompassing economic and security cooperation. He also said Damascus had communicated with the region's leaders while addressing the SDF issue, and that the regional government had helped Syria integrate these forces into state institutions.
On rebuilding the army and security services, al-Sharaa said the process began by dissolving factions and unifying weapons under the state's umbrella within a single army, before moving on to setting admission criteria and establishing training camps to prepare recruits. He explained that the need to prevent the country's collapse and fill the vacuum following the fall of the regime had led the authorities to absorb large numbers of people seeking to serve within a short period.
He added that circumstances had initially prevented the application of a high level of admission requirements, while work was under way to establish a training and vetting system. He acknowledged that incidents had occurred during the transitional phase, including incidents within the army and security services. He said several countries were helping Syria train its forces with the aim of turning them into a professional force operating according to the standards the new authorities sought to adopt.
In response to a question about his past and former ties to al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa denied any connection to the 11 September attacks and said he had been 13 years old at the time. He expressed regret for the victims who died in the United States, as well as those killed in the Middle East as a result of policies pursued in the region.
When the interviewer repeated a question about his former pledge of allegiance, al-Sharaa said he had answered it many times and that conditions in the region at the time had been different and led many young people to follow that path. He added that many developments had occurred later, including the Syrian revolution, and that his awareness had evolved with them.
He said his primary motivation had been to lift injustice from the people, referring to killings, arrests, torture and the use of chemical weapons under the former regime. He linked his answer to the circumstances Syria and the region had experienced, without providing further details about his former relationship with the organisation. Regarding missing US journalist Austin Tice, al-Sharaa said he had met his mother and introduced her to his own mother, who believed he had been killed after losing contact with him for seven years.
He said the similarity between the two experiences had given Tice's mother some hope of learning her son's fate. Al-Sharaa estimated the number of Syrians still missing at about 150,000. He said the National Authority for Missing Persons was working to benefit from international expertise in forensic medicine and criminal investigation as part of efforts to establish their fate.
He explained that some information concerning Austin Tice was security-related and intelligence-sensitive, preventing him from disclosing all the details. He nevertheless stressed that the Syrian government was trying to inform the US journalist's family of every new piece of information it received about him.
