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Taking the stage at a political discussion board in New York Metropolis for an interview, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and retired four-star United States Common David Petraeus have acknowledged the peculiarity of the state of affairs.
Al-Sharaa, who overthrew former President Bashar al-Assad and ended his household’s 50-year rule of Syria in a blazing military offensive late final yr, has been president since January.
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Petraeus commanded US forces throughout their invasion of Iraq – forces who captured and imprisoned al-Sharaa from 2006 to 2011 for combating towards the invasion. Petraeus later served because the director of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA).
After his launch, al-Sharaa established the al-Nusra Entrance in Syria in 2012 to struggle al-Assad. 4 years later, it severed its ties with al-Qaeda. A yr later, al-Nusra merged with different teams to kind Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by al-Sharaa.
HTS was designated a “terrorist organisation” by the US in 2018, citing previous ties to al-Qaeda, a designation the US revoked in July as Washington softened its method to post-Assad Syria.
The US had positioned a $10m bounty on al-Sharaa’s head, lifting it solely in late December.
Significance of timing and venue
Al-Sharaa arrived in New York on Sunday to attend the United Nations Common Meeting, the primary Syrian head of state to take action in almost six decades.
The president and his massive delegation held conferences, together with with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the chief addressed occasions on the sidelines of the Common Meeting on Monday.
With Petraeus, he then participated within the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit, a world affairs discussion board held alongside the Common Meeting that brings collectively world leaders, enterprise executives and NGO figures to foster public-private partnerships and dialogue.
Final yr, Concordia stated it had greater than 300 audio system, together with 9 heads of state, and greater than 3,600 attendees from 112 international locations. Previous contributors embody UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres, US enterprise titan Warren Buffett and former US President Joe Biden.
Why is Petraeus a ‘fan’ of al-Sharaa?
The previous US basic not solely acknowledged the odd pairing however used it to reward al-Sharaa, who has set an October date for parliamentary elections in Syria.
“His trajectory from rebel chief to go of state has been one of the dramatic political transformations in current Center Japanese historical past,” Petraeus instructed the viewers.
Later within the interview, he confirmed concern for the Syrian chief’s private wellbeing, asking whether or not he’s getting sufficient sleep. Petraeus stated al-Sharaa has “many followers” and that he’s certainly one of them.
“At a time, we have been in fight and now we transfer to discourse,” al-Sharaa stated with a smile when requested about their historical past, including that individuals who have gone by way of conflict know the significance of peace.
“We can not decide the previous primarily based on the foundations of immediately and can’t decide immediately primarily based on the foundations of the previous,” the Syrian president stated.
Speaking about his time as an al-Qaeda commander, al-Sharaa stated “perhaps there have been errors” earlier than however what issues now could be defending the Syrian individuals and the area from instability.
“Our dedication to that line is what introduced us right here immediately to [New York], sitting right here amongst allies and pals.”
Al-Sharaa stated he believed he was combating for a “noble” trigger that deserves help.
Requested about deadly sectarian violence in Syria this yr, he stated the al-Assad regime had left Syria in chaos and “all events made errors, together with components of the federal government”, throughout the violence.
He added {that a} newly fashioned council is investigating and would prosecute all violators.
He stated the Syrian individuals have rallied across the new authorities and the financial improvement and unification of Syria are the priorities now.
On this vein, he reiterated his request for the US Congress to revoke the Caesar Syria Civil Safety Act of 2019, which sanctions Syria.
The president reiterated his stance on defending Syria’s minorities, together with the Kurdish inhabitants within the north, whose rights should be protected within the structure. Nonetheless, he added, Kurdish armed forces should not function outdoors the state’s auspices as the federal government and its military should be the one entity with weapons.
The Syrian chief talked about Israel as properly, stating that Israel has attacked Syria greater than 1,000 occasions since al-Assad fell and continues to occupy the Golan Heights.
Nonetheless, al-Sharaa stated Syria is targeted on rebuilding and avoiding one other conflict, so safety talks are underneath manner with Israel to achieve an settlement primarily based on a 1974 disengagement deal that was mediated by the US.
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