Syrian leader vows end to foreign influence, calls for national unity

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has delivered a national address following the United States’ announcement to lift sanctions on Syria, vowing to usher in a new era of peace and unity while rejecting foreign interference and internal division.

“Syria commits to being a land of peace and remaining faithful to every good hand extended to it,” al-Shara said in his televised speech, Caliber.Az reports. 

He emphasised that Syria will no longer serve as an “arena for power struggles or a stage for foreign ambitions.”

“We will not allow Syria to be divided, nor will we permit the revival of previous regime narratives aimed at dividing our people,” he noted,

Furthermore, he added that Syria belongs to all Syrians, "regardless of their sect or ethnicity."

Al-Shara also highlighted recent steps taken by his administration, stating that over the past six months, the government has established new priorities to confront the country’s longstanding challenges. He attributed past divisions within Syria to foreign interventions and reiterated his commitment to national reconciliation.

The speech followed a landmark diplomatic development in Riyadh, where Trump met al-Shara in a meeting brokered by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The meeting, which marked the first high-level contact between the two nations in a quarter of a century, also included discussions about normalising ties between Syria and Israel — a move Trump strongly encouraged.

President al-Shara expressed gratitude to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for organising the meeting, and to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a key backer of the new Syrian government, for supporting the diplomatic effort.

By Sabina Mammadli