Syrian Transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa said his government “will use all possible legal means to seek the prosecution of Bashar al-Assad,” while stressing that “entering into a confrontation with Russia now would be very costly for Syria and not in the country’s interest.”
The deposed president is currently living in Moscow after fleeing Damascus on 8 December 2024 from Russia’s Hmeimim Air Base in Latakia (northwestern Syria).
For now, Russia rules out handing Bashar al-Assad over. On 3 April, Russia’s ambassador to Baghdad, Elbrus Kutrashev, said one condition of the deposed president’s stay in Moscow is to refrain from any media or political activity, noting he has the right to asylum there and that extradition is not on the table.
In an interview aired Monday, 13 October, on the American network CBS as part of the program 60 Minutes, al-Sharaa affirmed that his forces have not conducted any military operations outside Syrian territory and that “during the years of the revolution, we targeted no one but the regime.”
Asked whether he believes his young children will see Syria rebuilt, al-Sharaa replied, “Certainly. The Syrian people are strong.”
Al-Sharaa rejected United Nations accusations that his forces violated international humanitarian law during the coastal events in March, when government forces committed abuses against civilians in Syria’s coastal cities. He described those reports as “exaggerated,” while affirming his country’s commitment to “prosecute anyone who committed crimes against civilians from any side or group.”
Al-Sharaa revealed that Israel bombed the vicinity of his presidential palace twice. “The first time I was not there. The second time I was inside the palace, near the strike location. The aim was to send a message, but that is not a message. It is a declaration of war,” he said, adding, “Even so, Syria does not want to wage wars and does not seek to be a threat to Israel or anyone else.”
Responding to statements by the Israeli prime minister who justified the strikes as protecting the Druze minority, al-Sharaa said, “This is an internal Syrian issue that must be resolved legally through Syrian authorities.”
Al-Sharaa’s remarks come two months after abuses were committed by government forces affiliated with the Ministries of Defense and Interior and by local anti-government factions in the city of Suwayda (southern Syria). In their aftermath, al-Sharaa formed a national committee to investigate the Suwayda events, and the Syrian government allowed an independent international committee to investigate them as well.
He confirmed that the ongoing security talks between Damascus and Tel Aviv aim to “compel Israel to withdraw from all positions it occupied after December 8,” stressing that “Syria has not provoked Israel since we arrived in Damascus.”
The security agreement between Syria and Israel has stalled after the Syrian government refused to approve creating a humanitarian corridor from Israel to Suwayda, while the Israeli side has insisted on that clause, according to a Reuters report on 26 September.
Regarding the shape of the next government, al-Sharaa said, “General elections will be held after rebuilding infrastructure and after residents receive identity cards and official documents.”
Al-Sharaa estimated the cost of Syria’s reconstruction at between 600 and 900 billion dollars. He called on the international community to support Syria and said, “The world watched this tragedy unfold for 14 years and could not stop it, so it must now lend a hand. Any party that obstructs lifting sanctions on Syria is a partner in the crime committed against these people.”
When asked about US President Donald Trump describing President al-Sharaa as handsome with a strong past, al-Sharaa said, “That past is why the US government designated me a terrorist. There was a 10 million dollar reward on my head until a few months ago, but that would have been a waste of money.”
He explained he was “seventeen or eighteen years old” when he committed “the mistakes of the past,” noting that today he has “a completely different awareness than twenty years ago.”
Asked whether he truly believed in the “terrorist organizations” he once joined, he said, “If I had agreed with them, I would not have left them.” He added that he does not fully agree with describing him as “pragmatic,” because the word carries “negative connotations in Arabic,” emphasizing that what matters now is “saving the people from the oppression imposed on them by the criminal regime.”
Who is President Ahmed al-Sharaa?
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1982, where his father worked as an engineer in the oil fields. He spent his early childhood in the Kingdom until the age of seven, then returned with his family to settle in Syria.
With the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Sharaa traveled to Baghdad, where he joined al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers. He later became close to the group’s leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US airstrike in 2006.
Al-Sharaa was detained by US forces in Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. After his release in 2011, he joined the Islamic State of Iraq under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who tasked him with returning to Syria to establish a branch there. Al-Sharaa founded Jabhat al-Nusra, which became one of the most prominent branches of the organization in Syria.
Jabhat al-Nusra fought Syrian government forces across multiple provinces and battled Free Syrian Army factions in Idlib to consolidate control over the province. The group later renamed itself Jabhat Fath al-Sham and then Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
On 27 November 2024, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched the “Deterrence of Aggression” campaign under the leadership of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The forces taking part in the campaign liberated Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, with the last battles in Homs after the deposed president fled and the regime fell.
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, armed opposition factions met on 29 January at the People’s Palace in Damascus and announced from there that al-Sharaa would assume Syria’s presidency for the transitional phase. They also dissolved the People’s Assembly and suspended the 2012 constitution.
In a speech following the meeting, al-Sharaa said Syria’s priorities were filling the power vacuum, preserving public order, building state institutions, and laying an economic foundation.
On 24 September, the Syrian president delivered a speech to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. It was described as historic because it was the first by a Syrian president since 1967.
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