Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA- President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said that over the past 14 years, the deposed regime systematically destroyed Syrian society, displaced people, killed them with chemical weapons, and tortured them in prisons, and did not respond to any political solution, stressing that his confidence was absolute that he would enter Damascus one day, and rescue the Syrian people from this criminal regime, so that Syria would regain its pivotal role in the region.
“The Syrians have endured great injustice and oppression for 60 years, and during the past 14 years, society has been systematically destroyed, people were displaced, killed with chemical weapons, and tortured in the regime’s prisons. The regime did not respond to any political solution, refused to respond to the demands of the people, and continued to destroy Syrian society,” President Al-Sharaa said in an interview with British “The Rest Is Politics” channel.
President Al-Sharaa added “I was sure that a day would come when we would be in Damascus. For two or three years ago, I was saying that we would enter Damascus, and this was not just for raising morale, rather, I was speaking based on data that I relied on to analyze our strength and the social cohesion that we had in Idlib and compared it to the status of the regime and its economic and social collapse, and the collapse of its army.”
President Al-Sharaa went on to say that there was injustice and oppression in Syria and the region, and he began to feel the need to learn and read a lot about Damascus and Syria and its historical depth, and at the same time he was observing how the authority was managing the country, and he felt pain for what Damascus was suffering, and how the regime was oppressing and abusing the Syrians, and that is why he believed that this regime must fall.
The President added that he was very careful during the operation of “Aggression Deterrence,” enter cities to ensure that no civilian was exposed to harm, despite widespread popular calls to target cities and villages controlled by the regime, just as it relentlessly bombed cities and towns outside his control.
“But we refused to do the same for nearly 14 years, as the fighting focused on targeting the regime’s core strengths, such as the army, security forces, and other groups it relied on to fight the people, and any side battles were completely avoided,” the President stressed.
“We are tired of war, especially in Syria, and humanity cannot live without peace and security, as this is what people are looking for, not war, so there are many things that can bring them happiness, and lead to peaceful solutions without resorting to fighting,” the President said.
He added that after the fall of the regime, the priority was the stability of the government to prevent the collapse of state institutions, a period of 3 months has been set for the Idlib government to take over matters once it enters Damascus, after which “we move to the second phase, which includes a constitutional declaration, a national dialogue conference, and the selection of the president, as we appointed the president in accordance with international norms after consulting with constitutional experts.”
Regarding the sanctions, President al-Sharaa added that they were imposed on Syria because of the systematic crimes of the ousted regime, including mass killings, and now after its fall, they must be lifted as there is no longer justification for them.
“There is a strong international consensus on that, and everyone who visited Damascus recently agreed on the necessity of lifting the sanctions, as Syria is currently facing major challenges and one of the direct solutions is through economic solutions and development, as without economic growth nothing can happen,” the President said.
President Al-Sharaa pointed out that Syria’s role in the region has changed today. It has become a new country with a very promising future. It will play a major role in the stability of the region through economic development. It will also be a major center in sectors such as agriculture, industry and trade. The Silk Road trade between the East and the West will flourish again, and the West must reconsider its view of Syria.
The President said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an influential country, and that he wanted his first visit to be to a major Arab country, and when he received an invitation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he decided to go immediately due to the special status that the Kingdom enjoys and its great influence in our region.
President Al-Sharaa considered that US President Donald Trump is interested during his current term in building peace in the Middle East, since his country has caused a great deal of instability over the past two decades, and this represents a promising hope, expressing his optimism that if Trump implements the ideas he put forward during his election campaign, he will play a major role in achieving world peace, especially stopping the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Regarding Trump’s statements about seizing the Gaza Strip and displacing Palestinians from it, President Al-Sharaa stressed that no force is capable of pushing people to leave their lands, as many countries have tried to do so and all of them have failed, especially during the recent war in Gaza. Over the past year and a half, people have suffered pain and destruction, yet they have refused to leave their land, and over more than 80 years, all attempts to displace them have failed.
Mazen Eyon
