‘We are scared of Israel’: Syria’s Sharaa insists his country poses no threat

NEW YORK — Syria’s new leader warned Tuesday that the Middle East would face a new round of tumult unless Israel reaches a security agreement with his transitional government that preserves sovereignty.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist whose forces swept out longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, is making a landmark visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Sharaa again voiced hope for a security agreement with Israel, but accused Jerusalem of stalling and continuing to carry out incursions into Syria.

“We are not the ones creating problems for Israel. We are scared of Israel, not the other way around,” he told an event of the Middle East Institute.

“There are multiple risks with Israel stalling on the negotiations and insisting on violating our airspace and incursions into our territory,” he said.

He rejected any talk of partitioning his country and says it is championing the interests of the Druze minority.

“Jordan is under pressure, and any talk of partitioning Syria will hurt Iraq, will hurt Turkey,” he said.

“That will take us all back to square one,” he said, noting that Syria had only just emerged from a decade-and-a-half of war.

In an earlier appearance, Sharaa played down prospects for a more historic agreement in which Syria would recognize Israel.

Despite Shaara’s comments, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said Syria and Israel were close to striking a “de-escalation” agreement in which Israel will stop its incursions, while Syria will agree not to move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York, Barrack said the agreement would serve as the first step towards the security deal that the two countries have been negotiating.

Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have occupied a Golan Heights buffer zone between the countries.

After Assad’s fall, Israel carried out waves of strikes to destroy Syrian military capabilities that posed a threat to Israel and has also used force to intervene to try and stop sectarian attacks against the Druze in southern Syria.

US President Donald Trump has sought to strike an agreement between the two sides that would be announced this week, but not enough progress has been made so far, and the Rosh Hashanah holiday, the Jewish New Year this week, has slowed down the process, Barrack said.

“I think everybody is approaching it in good faith,” Barrack said.

Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades. Despite the overthrow of Assad last December, territorial disputes and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries remain.

Israel has voiced hostility to Syria’s Islamist-led government, pointing to al-Sharaa’s former jihadist links, and has lobbied Washington to keep the country weak and decentralized.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that there was a new window of possibility for peace with both Syria and Lebanon after an Israeli military campaign devastated Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite terrorist movement that was close to Assad. While reporting progress in the talks, Netanyahu indicated more time would be needed to reach an agreement between Israel and Syria, after speculation that a deal could be reached in the coming days.

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Related: 11 members of Syrian Jewish community in NY attend meeting with visiting President Sharaa

A Trump administration official told The Times of Israel on Sunday that an emerging security agreement between Israel and Syria is “99%” complete, and that an announcement is expected within the next two weeks.