of Chatham House, and I'm delighted to welcome you to this discussion this evening with the President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa. 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 Asaris 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.
In the last few days, 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.
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?
Syria has conducted a national dialogue congress. It had recommendations, including the constitutional declaration, and that included the elections of 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.
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 redraft the constitution, including legislations for political parties, where we will have the infrastructure for the elections that will help.
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 their 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.
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 in the northeast.
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, and 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 the SDF. The first agreement was on the 10th of March, 2025.
The agreement had a term of expiry. We familiarized the supportive countries, including the UK and France, with it. Then 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 the SDF. The Syrian government has legitimacy.
The SDF had limited legitimacy to combat ISIS. Then, as the former regime lost its legitimacy, therefore, world countries participated with the 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 the SDF with the Syrian army. And then we added the agreement of the 29th of January, which stipulates for the integration of the SDF with the Syrian institutions, including the military.
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 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 — 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 and to safeguard security and to establish economic development.
We have been patient with regard to the relationship with Iran. Of course, the ongoing work affects the region negatively, cutting of 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 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?
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.
Have you helped stop Iranian weapons getting to Hezbollah in Lebanon?
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 a 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?
Can you repeat the last part of the question, please?
Are you going to keep the Russian military bases in Syria open?
This is an indication that the Syrian diplomacy is active. We go to the White House, and then later we go to the Kremlin. It is very difficult for any country in the world to have full balance between conflicting parties. Syria — sorry, Russia as well — was involved in the war against the Syrian people. There are historical relations and other links between Russia and Syria. In the past, we tried to de-escalate with the Russians.
Amongst tens of bases, only two remained, and we are trying to make them bases for training the Syrian army.
Let me ask you finally two more personal things. I believe you have two daughters. Would you like to see at some point a woman become president of Syria?
First of all, I only have one daughter. I have two sons and one daughter, to correct.
I think anyone who would be involved in public affairs realizes it is a big responsibility. I do not wish this on my children.
Many would agree with you on that. And finally, you've talked at some length, very openly, about the many years when you fought for al-Qaeda and related groups. Do you still consider their aims desirable, or is their mission complete?
Can you repeat the last part of the question? Sorry, the mics are not working well.
Sure. You talked about fighting for many years for al-Qaeda and related groups. Do you still consider their goals desirable, or is their job done?
