In his speech — the first by a Syrian leader at the UN since 1967 — Sharaa called for the removal of sanctions on his country, and highlighted Syria’s suffering under what he described as six decades of murderous dictatorship brought to an end by the toppling of longtime President Bashar Al-Assad in December, led by Sharaa’s forces.
The Syrians’ suffering made it incumbent on them to “stand with the people of Gaza, its children and women,” Sharaa said at the end of his speech, calling for an end to the fighting sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023. Following Sharaa’s speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement on negotiations for a security pact with Damascus, in which he stressed that Israel would not agree to a deal that does not guarantee the safety of Syria’s Druze minority. (Read More)