During a visit to the UK, Ahmed al-Sharaa outlined his vision for Syria at Chatham House. He stressed neutrality in the US-Iran conflict, called for negotiations over war, and highlighted reconstruction, refugee return, and regional cooperation. He also addressed ties with Iran, Israel, and Russia. For more details, watch our story and subscribe to our channel, DRM News.
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Questions asked in this interview
9
0:00What would you like the outcome of the conflict between the US and Iran to be?
1:52Is Syria going to stay neutral while that conflict goes on?
3:35What would it take for you to normalize relations with Israel?
4:29Have you helped to stop Iranian weapons getting to Hezbollah in Lebanon?
5:32Are you going to keep the Russian military bases open in Syria?
5:53Are you going to keep the Russian military bases in Syria open?
7:01Would you like to see at some point a woman become president of Syria?
7:49Do you still consider their aims desirable, or is their mission complete?
8:14Do you still consider their goals desirable, or is their job done?
No doubt. Iran's interventions in Syria for the past 40 years helped the former regime to displace Syrians. We suffer from losing more than 10 million people who left Syria, and we have the missing people whose numbers are close to 250,000. And Iran participated and spearheaded the operation of the Syrian regime against the Syrian people. We do not have a problem with Iran in Tehran. We have a problem with Iran in Damascus because it occupies Syrian towns and villages and displaces people. But our policy in Syria was clear: to reach Damascus, to safeguard security, and to establish economic development.
We have been patient with regard to the relationship with Iran. Of course, the ongoing war affects the region negatively, cutting off energy supplies to the international economy. Iran has a problem of trying to manufacture the ballistic missiles and the nuclear bomb and trying to influence other countries. We recommend negotiations rather than military power because it will lead to more dangers.
Of course. Unless Syria is targeted by any party, Syria will remain outside any conflict. We had enough war. We paid a large bill. We are not ready for another war experience. Those who have been in war know the value of peace. We are trying to support the Syrian economy, work on reconstruction, receive the refugees who were displaced from Syria, and then transform Syria into an economic location utilizing its strategic geopolitical location in the region.
We want Syria to have ideal relationships with the entire region — with Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and world powers like the UK, France, Germany, and the US. I think that Syria is qualified to start a strategic relationship network. No one is ready to be involved in war, and we will not be in it unless we are subject to aggression and we have no diplomatic solution.
There's one country in the region you didn't mention, and that is Israel. There were a lot of reports last summer that you were having direct talks with them. What would it take for you to normalize relations with Israel?
Upon our arrival at Damascus, Israel dealt with Syria negatively, bombing locations, did incursions in Syrian territories, and violated the 1974 agreement. We applied the same policy we're talking about. We tried dialogue with indirect negotiations and then direct negotiations. We reached good points, but then the Israelis changed their opinion at the last minute.
It is the duty of the Syrian state to protect its borders. No state would accept open borders and smuggling of weapons, because if weapons are smuggled, other things would be passed with it. We paid the price for the intervention of Hezbollah in Syria for 14 years. It participated effectively with the Syrian regime in killing the Syrian people. Despite this, when we arrived at Damascus, we applied policies that do not harm the situation in Lebanon. We were keen that the conflict is not spilled over to Lebanon. But we want to protect our borders, and our duty is to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other things.
I'm going to take that as yes. What about Russia? You did visit the White House last year, but you visited the Kremlin a month earlier. Are you going to keep the Russian military bases open in Syria?
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al-Sharaa, A. (2026, March 31). Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Outlines Vision For Future | DRM News | AC1F [Interview transcript]. DRM News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958387/
MLA
Ahmed al-Sharaa. "Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Outlines Vision For Future | DRM News | AC1F." DRM News, 31 Mar. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958387/.
BibTeX
@misc{alsharaa2026_2958387,
author = {Ahmed al-Sharaa},
title = {Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Outlines Vision For Future | DRM News | AC1F},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, DRM News. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {mar},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2958387/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
