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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria’s de facto leader: Israel no longer has excuse to stay in buffer zone |
| 2025-01-18 |
Are you ready to try to make them, tough guy? [IsraelTimes] In joint press conference with Qatari PM, HTS leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa says Damascus will welcome presence of UN peacekeepers in demilitarized area between countries.Though Sharaa’s comments appeared to show a hardened tone toward the Israeli incursion, his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadi group has not commented on an Israeli strike targeting a weapons convoy in southern Syria Wednesday that was said to have killed several people, including military officials of the new government. “Israel’s advance in the region was due to the presence of Iranian militias and Hezbollah. After the liberation of Damascus, I believe that they have no presence at all. There are pretexts that Israel is using today to advance into the Syrian regions, into the buffer zone,” said Sharaa, whose HTS spearheaded the rebel forces that toppled Assad last month. “We’ve notified international officials that Syria honors the terms of the 1974 agreement and is willing to accept UN peacekeepers to protect them,” he said. “Everyone knows the advance was a mistake and that [we] should go back to the way things were.” Sharaa made similar comments soon after Israel moved into the area in December. Sharaa’s latest criticism of the Israeli incursion came a day after his foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, also told reporters in Ankara that Damascus was committed to the 1974 agreement but that Israel had to “respect Syria’s sovereignty.” Speaking in Damascus Thursday, Al-Thani also said Israel “must immediately withdraw” from the buffer zone, assailing the “reckless” entry into the area. The two men’s press conference marked al-Thani’s first visit to Syria since rebels overtook Damascus, ending the country’s long civil war. Sharaa said his authorities were counting on the support of Qatar to help stop Israel from making any further advances into Syrian territory. Qatar “supports this view and will use all means available to exert pressure on Israel” to withdraw, he added, hailing Qatar’s “central role” in that pressure. Al-Thani pledged Qatar’s support to Syria’s rehabilitation effort, saying his country “extends its hand to our Syrian brothers for future partnerships.” Unlike the other Arab countries that broke with Damascus at the start of the war, Qatar never renewed diplomatic relations with the Assad regime. Together with Turkey, it was also one of the first to back the armed rebels. Upon Assad’s ouster, Qatar was the second state to recognize the new Syrian government after Turkey. Last week, Syria’s national electricity company said Qatar and Turkey would send power plant ships to increase supply after the United States eased some sanctions on Damascus. Meanwhile, a diplomatic source said Qatar was weighing a plan to provide Syria with funds after Damascus decided to increase public sector salaries. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #5 They don't need an "excuse". |
| Posted by: Crusader 2025-01-18 15:21 |
| #4 "Fooled" or fellow travelers? You decide. Posted by: Besoeker 2025-01-18 06:01 Beso, whynotboth.jpg Mike |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2025-01-18 12:08 |
| #3 Israel no longer has excuse to stay in buffer zone Because taqqiya and hudna aren't really a thing. |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2025-01-18 11:26 |
| #2 /\ The only people it has really fooled can be found in the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom. "Fooled" or fellow travelers? You decide. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2025-01-18 06:01 |
| #1 Al-Thani pledged Qatar’s support to Syria’s rehabilitation effort, saying his country “extends its hand to our Syrian brothers for future partnerships.” For more than a half-century the Thani family that rules Qatar has welcomed and supported the Muslim Brotherhood presence in Qatar. It has provided a home to the most radical of Islamists and to left-wing USA non=profits. The only people it has really fooled can be found in the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom. |
| Posted by: Glusomp Spealet4328 2025-01-18 05:14 |