Chatham House Moderator
0:00 ↗
He's going to be speaking in Arabic with translations through the headphones. And we have, because of the logistics, if I can put it that way, of arriving at this point, we have about half an hour. We are, I should say, developing a considerable stream of work on Syria at Chatham House as a key area supported by the Open Society Foundations and by the Asfari Foundation.
A very brief introduction. The president was born in Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family, grew up in Damascus. He became de facto leader of Syria's transition following the overthrow of the previous regime in December 2024. He has served as president of Syria since his formal appointment in late January 2025. Before that, he was for many years the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist armed group that played a leading role in fighting and deposing the Assad regime. Its origins were linked to Al-Qaeda, and he had years earlier joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq. In September, Germany, welcome to Chatham House. Thank you for your time. Let me ask you whether you've had a successful meeting in the UK and whether the UK will be opening its embassy in Damascus soon.
A few days ago, we received a delegation from the UK. It was an introductory delegation, as it were. Then we were visited by the foreign secretary after a few months. We discussed the situation in Syria, the past and the future. And then we implemented the procedures directly, as we have done with many of the countries. Britain has contributed to supporting Syria to lift the sanctions. And of course, the relationship continues. The different meetings that we have conducted in the UK will enhance trust, and we will be fully ready on the diplomatic level, on the embassy level, and others.
Chatham House Moderator
3:07 ↗
You said at the Doha Forum in December, just a few months ago, that you would stick to your commitment of having elections within five years of your taking power, which you did in December 2024. So, less than four years from now. Are you still on track for that?
He's saying there's some sort of confusion in the interpreting. So, can you please repeat so that I repeat the interpretation? Are you still on track to have elections within five years of when you took power?
Of course, Syria has conducted a national dialogue congress. It had recommendations including the constitutional declaration, and that included the elections in five years. And we will have the elections of the People's Assembly, the Parliament, and the first session will be next month. We will review the laws and legislations that we are paving the way for free elections in Syria.
Chatham House Moderator
4:35 ↗
When will people be able to form political parties?
As the constitution is not applicable after the constitutional declaration, the People's Assembly will establish commissions that will re-draft the constitution, including legislations for political parties, where we will have the infrastructure for the elections that will help.
Chatham House Moderator
5:21 ↗
You're often asked about what reassurance you can give that the government will not bring Islamist social norms to the whole country. And people point to concerns like people detained for breaking the fast during Ramadan, or an alcohol ban in Damascus, though it was overturned. What measures are you putting in place to make sure that administration is not used to restrict people's personal freedoms?
The administration applies the laws of the country. And then we would have the constitution applied and the parliament. And the mission of the president is to apply the laws rather than impose them on people.
Chatham House Moderator
6:24 ↗
Let me ask you about your mission to unite Syria. The US has recently backed you in the movement of your armed forces against the Kurdish forces. Can you repeat? Sorry. Sorry. Can you repeat? Let me ask you about your mission to unite Syria, and about the Kurds in particular. The US has backed you when your armed forces moved against the Kurdish forces recently. Are you now going to bring Kurdish fighters inside the army?
Syria, as at our arrival in Damascus, agreed that the state will only have — the only party that will have weapons will be the state. And it will not be militias and armed groups and de facto authorities with weapons implementing their own laws. This will not be a country where people can live. Based on this, we had a lot of dialogue sessions with SDF. The first agreement was on the 10th of March 2025. And the agreement had a term of expiry. We familiarized the supportive countries, including the UK and France, with it. The agreement expired, and then we had some sort of military clashes. The US did not support us militarily. It tried to solve this problem. But the opportunities given were misunderstood by SDF, and the Syrian government has legitimacy. SDF had limited legitimacy to combat ISIS. Then, as the former regime lost its legitimacy, therefore world countries participated with SDF to defeat ISIS. But now, those countries by law have to cooperate with the state that is recognized by the UN. Based on these procedures, we had a choice that we presented to the US so that they do not leave their allies. Therefore, we suggested that we merge SDF with the Syrian army. And then we added the agreement of the 29th of January, which stipulates for the integration of SDF with the Syrian institutions, including the military.
Chatham House Moderator
9:38 ↗
Let me ask you some things about the region, which is not quiet. What would you like the outcome of the conflict between the US and Iran to be?
No doubt that Iran's interventions in Syria for the past 40 years helped 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.
Is Syria going to stay neutral while that conflict goes on?
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 are 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?
At 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 last minute.
