Syrian president: No interest in conflict with Israel, wants security arrangement

Peloni:  Has it been so long that people do not recall the Allegory of the Snake which Trump used to use to characterize his opposition in the US?  It would be useful if the relevance of this story were applied to those new partners with whom Trump is aligning in the Middle East.

Terrorists don’t seek peaceful relations with those they deem as infidels.  Instead, they seek capabilities to advance their aims, which are far from peaceful.  They don’t seek security, and they don’t seek stability.  They seek domination, conquest and Jihad.  Until the West can internalize this fact, they will continue to commit security malpractice while ceding their own interests to those who seek their destruction.  The demand that Israel coordinate with Jolani, who now wears the mask of Shaara, is a prime example of this Western malpractice in play, and so is the growing relationship between Jolani’s master Erdogan and Pres. Trump.  Israel should not give up the buffer zone in Syria, and it will not give up the Golan.

Sharaa says security agreement could lead to peace talks, Syria unwilling to give up Golan Heights

All Israel News Staff | Published: July 27, 2026

Abu Muhammad al-Jolani. Photo by Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

Syria is not seeking confrontation with Israel and is working toward a security arrangement with the Jewish state, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview.

In an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera, Sharaa, a former Islamist terrorist, spoke about Syria’s relations with two of its neighbors, Israel and Lebanon, and expressed hope that a security deal with Israel could pave the way for a comprehensive peace proposal.

The full interview is set to be broadcast on Monday, but first excerpts were released on Sunday. “We are avoiding confrontation [with Israel],” Sharaa said in one clip, “we have no interest in that.”

The Syrian leader also said that his country is “working to reach a security agreement with Israel,” with the participation of a group of countries, which he did not name.

U.S. President Donald Trump has spent the past year urging Damascus and Jerusalem to reach a peace agreement, while his administration played a role in mediating the now-suspended talks.

Sharaa said he hoped that a security agreement with Israel could serve as a foundation for negotiations toward a comprehensive peace agreement, while maintaining that Syria would not give up its “rights in the occupied Golan.”

Israel seized the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War, later annexing the territory as necessary for its security interests. Sharaa’s nom de guerre during his years as an Islamist militant was al-Jolani, a reference to his family’s roots in the region.

The United States is the only country to have formally recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, with the Trump administration announcing the move during his first term in office in 2019.

Israeli forces moved into several additional positions in southern Syria, saying the deployment was needed to create a security buffer zone. Israel cited repeated statements by militias aligned with Sharaa’s regime calling for an invasion of Israel as one of the reasons for its actions.

Israel has also said the positions are necessary to prevent a massacre of the Syrian Druze communities near the border. Following Sharaa’s attempts to consolidate power, several militias have engaged in attacks on the Druze in the area of Suweida, leading Israel to intervene on several occasions, even striking within Damascus, described as a warning to Sharaa’s government.

In April, the Syrian president also addressed the security talks with Israel, saying they were progressing “with great difficulty.” He appeared to blame Israel’s insistence on maintaining a security presence in the recently seized territories as the main obstacle.

However, in March, sources within the IDF Northern Command told Israel’s Walla News that militias associated with Sharaa’s regime were transferring weapons and fighters to the hills near Israeli security outposts in southern Syria. These transfers reportedly took place in violation of previous security agreements between Israel and Syria, the sources said.

Sharaa rejected the possibility that the Syrian army would take action against Hezbollah, despite repeated calls from President Trump for Damascus to confront the terror group.

“We do not intend to carry out any military intervention in Lebanon,” President Sharaa said in another clip from the interview. “The solution there is not necessarily military.”

However, he said that Syria is in talks with the Lebanese government, saying, “We are working on a comprehensive approach to the crisis.”

Sharaa noted that unrest in Lebanon directly affects Syria and expressed concern that the conflict could expand, further destabilizing the region.

“We support the Lebanese state’s monopoly on weapons,” he said, referring to the Lebanese government’s plan to disarm Hezbollah as part of an agreement that would also include the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.