Israel, the United States and Russia have tried to promote theirs interests in Syria in the wake of autumn Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Russia and the United States have made diplomatic gestures toward the new de facto Syrian government, while Israel has deployed troops in the country and conducted hundreds of airstrikes against Syrian targets.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa said on Saturday Israel uses false pretenses to justify its ongoing attacks on Syriabut that he is not interested in getting involved in new conflicts as the country focuses on reconstruction.
Sharaa – better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that swept Assad from power last week, ending the family’s five-decade iron rule.
Israel has since moved into a demilitarized zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of strategic Mount Hermon overlooking Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian military post.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he is “deeply concerned by the recent and widespread violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The United Nations has said Israel is violating a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that established the buffer zone.
Israel, which has said it does not intend to stop there, calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security.
Israel’s defense minister has instructed troops to prepare to spend the winter on top of Mount Hermon, which straddles the border between Syria, Lebanon and a UN demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Several Arab countriesincluding Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, condemned what they called Israel’s seizure of a buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli military said it has also carried out nearly 500 airstrikes against Syrian military targets in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, destroying most of the Syrian air force, navy, air defense, missiles and rockets.
The United Nations has said there is no basis in international law to allow such pre-emptive strikes.
“Israeli arguments have become weak and no longer justify their recent violations. The Israelis have clearly crossed the lines of engagement in Syria, which poses a threat of unjustified escalation in the region,” Sharaa said in an interview published on the website of Syria TV, a pro- opposition channel.
“Syria’s war-weary stateafter years of conflict and war, does not allow new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not to be drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction.”
He also said that diplomatic solutions were the only way to ensure security and stability and that “uncalculated military adventures” were not wanted.
On Russiawhose 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, Sharaa said its relations with Syria should serve common interests.
“The current stage requires careful management of international relations,” he added.
Russia is withdrawing its military from the front lines in northern Syria and from posts in the Alawite Mountains but is not leaving its two main bases in the country after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, four Syrian officials told Reuters.
Some equipment is being shipped back to Moscow, as are very senior officers from Assad’s military, but the goal at this stage is to regroup and redeploy as dictated by developments on the ground, a senior Syrian army officer in contact with the Russian military told Reuters.
A senior rebel official close to the new interim administration told Reuters that the issue of the Russian military presence in Syria and previous agreements between Assad’s government and Moscow were not discussed.
“It is a matter for future talks and the Syrian people will have the final say,” the official said, adding that Moscow had established communication channels.
“Our forces are now also in close proximity to the Russian bases in Latakia,” he added without elaborating.
The Kremlin has said Russia is in discussions with the new rulers of Syria about the bases. Russia’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Reuters’ reporting.
A Russian source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that discussions with the new rulers of Syria are ongoing and that Russia is not withdrawing from its bases.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has completed what may be his last Middle East trip as America’s top diplomat, traveling to prevent Syria from spiraling out of control following the sudden ouster of President Bashar Assad.
Blinken was one of several senior US officials who traveled through the region in the final weeks of the Biden administration amid deep uncertainty in Washington and abroad about how Donald Trump will approach the Middle East when he takes office on January 20, 2025.
Blinken held meetings Jordan, Turkey and Iraq with the aim of trying to shape the future of post-Assad Syria by building consensus among regional partners and allies whose interests often diverge.
“We know that what happens inside Syria can have powerful consequences far beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism,” he told reporters on Saturday in Aqaba, Jordan. “And we know we cannot underestimate the challenges at this moment.”
The primary objective of his 11 previous trips to the region since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023 was to secure a ceasefire in Gaza that resulted in the release of remaining hostages.
Now, suddenly, it wasn’t his priority and was being handled by President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who traveled to Israel, Egypt and Qatar this week. Blinken said he used his own meetings to push for a ceasefire agreement.
Biden’s team is running out of time to cement a legacy in the Middle East after drawing widespread criticism that it turned a blind eye to Israel’s military conduct and its treatment of civilians in Gaza.
They did manage to help lead a push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that, while tenuous, is holding.
Blinken left Washington just three days after Assad defected to Russia, a longtime ally.
Blinken said his goal was to convince countries in the Middle East and elsewhere that they should commit to supporting the U.S. view of how Syria should be governed after decades of Assad family rule.
To that end, he said he had secured the support of the 12 foreign ministers from the Arab League, Turkey and top EU and UN officials who held an emergency meeting Saturday on Syria in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba.
They agreed that the new Syrian government should respect the rights of minorities and women, prevent terrorist groups from gaining a foothold, ensure humanitarian aid reaches people in need, and secure and destroy any remaining Assad-era chemical weapons.
Blinken has pledged that the United States, which has about 900 troops in southeastern Syria, would recognize and support a new government that met those principles.
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