Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa criticized “random Israeli interventions” in Syria, and said the indirect talks are aimed to “contain” the situation so it does not “spiral out of control.”
By Charles Bybelezer, JNS
Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday that his government is engaged in indirect talks with Israel aimed at de-escalating tensions between the two countries, following a series of Israeli airstrikes in the wake of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.
“There are indirect talks taking place through mediators to calm the situation and try to contain it so it does not spiral out of control,” Sharaa said at a press conference in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, according to Agence France Presse.
“Random Israeli interventions … have violated the 1974” armistice, said Sharaa, adding that “since we arrived in Damascus, we have told all relevant parties that Syria is committed to the 1974 agreement.”
The Israeli Air Force attacked several targets in Syria overnight Friday, including a military installation, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted sites near Damascus, in the western governorate of Hama, and in the southern region of Daraa.
The IDF is also deployed in southern Syria to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages.
On Wednesday, Sharaa said the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) must “return to the Blue Line of separation,” adding that his government is “trying to speak with all countries that are in contact with the Israeli side to pressure them to stop interfering in Syria’s affairs, violating its airspace and bombing some of its facilities.”
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Dec. 20 to renew UNDOF’s peacekeeping mandate for six months. The mission, which was established in 1974 after the Yom Kippur War and which includes more than 1,100 troops from 13 countries, operates in the Golan Heights, patrolling the “area of separation” buffer zone on the Israel-Syria border.
Since the fall of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Assad regime on Dec. 8, Israel has taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan Heights buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on former Assad military assets to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.
Al-Sharaa was a leading figure in Al-Qaeda before founding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the overthrow of the Assad regime in December.
Last Thursday, an Israeli operation targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a clear message to the Syrian regime.”
“We will not allow regime forces to move south of Damascus or to pose any danger to the Druze community,” Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The latest violence in Syria was triggered by the circulation of an audio recording allegedly of a Druze man insulting the prophet Mohammed. According to the U.K.-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 100 people have been killed in the ensuing clashes, including nine by execution.
In the wake of Assad’s overthrow, Sunni Islamists reportedly perpetrated massacres across Syria, with more than a thousand people killed in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia.
Last week, the U.S. State Department has condemned the violence directed at the Druze as “reprehensible and unacceptable.”
“Interim authorities must stop the fighting, hold perpetrators of violence and civilian harm accountable, and ensure the security of all Syrians,” said department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday condemned IDF strikes on Syria, saying they would not guarantee “Israel’s long-term security.”
“As for bombings and incursions, I think it’s bad practice. You don’t ensure your country’s security by violating the territorial integrity of your neighbors,” he said, according to AFP.
In March, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar criticized European leaders for their willingness to engage with Al-Sharaa, who is known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.
“Europeans flocked to Damascus in recent months to shake his hand, but he and his men were jihadists and have remained so, even if they now wear suits,” Sa’ar stated, urging the international community to condemn what he described as the “barbaric murder of civilians.”
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