Syria has turned the page on extremism but Israel remains a threat, spy chief tells UN
NEW YORK CITY: Syria’s intelligence chief, Hussein Al-Salama, said on Monday that Damascus had shifted from “managing crises” to “building sustainable stability” since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, but warned that Israeli incursions and shelling continue to threaten that stability.
Al-Salama, the director of Syria’s General Intelligence Service, was addressing the Fourth UN High-Level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of Member States at the UN headquarters in New York as part of Counter-Terrorism Week, ahead of the General Assembly’s ninth review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on July 1 and 2.
He said Syria had “regained its sovereignty and its independent decision making” and was rebuilding national institutions after the “criminal practices of the former regime” turned the country into “a fertile environment for extremism and terrorism.”
He said Syrians were now returning home to “a safe haven” rather than fleeing abroad. He listed the country’s priorities as safeguarding national security, contributing to regional stability and engaging in international counterterrorism efforts, as well as cutting off sources of extremist financing, and enhancing security, judicial and intelligence cooperation with foreign partners.
