Syria’s al-Sharaa promises peace and unity in face of Israeli aggression
Syrian president accuses Israel of fabricating threats to justify military actions across the region as he commits to holding elections within the next five years.
By Usaid Siddiqui, AlJazeera
Published On 6 Dec 20256 Dec 2025
Doha, Qatar – Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of heightening regional tensions and fabricating external threats to divert attention from the “horrifying massacres” it has committed in Gaza.
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Saturday during the Newsmaker Interview at the Doha Forum, al-Sharaa said Israeli leaders “often exports crises to other countries” as they increasingly invoke security pretexts to expand military action.
“They justify everything, using their security concerns, and they take October 7 and extrapolate it to everything that is happening around them,” he said.
“Israel has become a country that is in a fight against ghosts.”
Since the the Bashar al-Assad regime fell in December 2024, Israel has carried out frequent air strikes across Syria, killing hundreds of people, while also conducting ground operations in the south.
Last month, Israeli forces killed at least 13 people in the Damascus countryside town of Beit Jinn.
In addition, it has advanced deeper into Syrian territory and established numerous checkpoints, while illegally detaining Syrian citizens and holding them inside Israel.
Al-Sharaa said his administration had worked to de-escalate tensions with Israel since he assumed office, emphasising that “we sent positive messages regarding regional peace and stability”.
“We’ve said very frankly that Syria will be a country of stability, and we are not concerned with being a country that exports conflict, including to Israel,” he said.
“However, in return, Israel has met us with extreme violence, and Syria has suffered massive violations of our airspace.”
Syria attacked by Israel, not the opposite
’Al-Sharaa said Israel must withdraw to where they were before the fall of al-Assad, and preserve the 1974 Disengagement Accord.
The accord established a ceasefire following the October 1973 Yom Kippur war, creating a United Nations-monitored buffer zone on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
“This agreement has held on for over 50 years,” al-Sharaa said, cautioning that efforts to replace it with new arrangements, such as a buffer or demilitarised zone, could push the region “into a serious and dangerous place”.
“Who will protect that zone? Israel often says that they are afraid of coming under attack from southern Syria, so who will be protecting this buffer zone or this demilitarised zone, if the Syrian army or the Syrian forces are going to be there?” he asked.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a deal with Syria was within reach, but that he expected Syrian government forces to create a demilitarised buffer zone extending from the capital, Damascus, to Jabal al-Sheikh in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
“It is Syria that is being attacked by Israel and not the opposite,” he said. “Therefore, who has more right to claim a buffer zone and a pullout?”
Syria’s al-Sharaa promises peace and unity in face of Israeli aggression | Syria's War News | Al Jazeera
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