Berliner Tageblatt - Syria interim president seeks pressure on Israel to withdraw from south

Since Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded an offensive that toppled longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Israel has deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.

Israel has occupied much of the Golan Heights since 1967 and later annexed the area abutting Syria's southeast in a move not recognised by the United Nations.

Beyond ground incursions, Israeli forces have also carried out repeated air strikes against Syrian military sites in recent days.

"We urge the international community to uphold its legal and moral commitments by supporting Syria's rights and pressuring Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Syria," Sharaa told a summit of Arab leaders in Cairo.

The "hostile (Israeli) expansion is not only a violation of Syrian sovereignty, but also a direct threat to security and peace in the entire region", he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month demanded "the complete demilitarisation of southern Syria" and said his country would not accept the new Syrian authorities to be present there.

Sharaa was in Cairo for an Arab League summit on Gaza, his first such meeting since ousting Assad nearly three months ago.

The Syrian presidency published images of Sharaa meeting with senior officials including United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and European Union chief Antonio Costa on the sidelines of the summit.

Guterres and Sharaa "exchanged views about the historic opportunity to chart a new course for Syria as well as the challenges facing the country", according to the UN.

The United Nations envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen in a statement strongly condemned Israel's "military escalations" including air strikes" on its northern neighbour.

Under Assad, Syria was suspended from the Arab League over his deadly 2011 crackdown on pro-democracy protests which spiralled into a devastating civil war.

In 2023, Syria under Assad was allowed to return to the bloc after years of regional isolation.

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia had been instrumental to Assad's short-lived return to the fold, after it became a major market for captagon, an addictive drug linked to the ousted Syrian leader.

A UN Security Council committee approved a travel ban exemption for Sharaa, enabling him to visit Egypt for Tuesday's summit despite his inclusion on a sanctions list.

The meeting was called in response to a widely criticised proposal by President Donald Trump for the United States to take over Gaza and force its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.

Sharaa has called Trump's proposal "a very huge crime that cannot happen".

A.Gasser--BTB