NEW YORK: Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, visiting New York for the UN General Assembly, voiced hope Monday for a security deal that eases tensions with Israel but he played down the prospect of recognition.
Sharaa, a former jihadist whose forces toppled longtime leader Bashar Assad in December, met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and later will deliver the first address in decades by a Syrian leader to the General Assembly.
Syrian officials have set a goal of reaching military and security agreements by the end of the year with Israel, whose military has repeatedly battered its neighbor and longtime adversary in the chaos since Assad’s fall.
“I hope that that will lead us to an agreement that will keep the sovereignty of Syria and also resolve some of the security fears of Israel,” Sharaa told the Concordia summit at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN summit.
But he balked when asked if Syria would join the so-called Abraham Accords, in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020.
