Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
HTS leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre "Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani," stated in a December 22, 2024 meeting with a large Druze delegation led by senior Lebanese Druze politician Walid Jumblatt that Syrians are peaceful people who do not hold grudges about past prejudices that did not involve them.
Regarding Lebanon, Al-Joulani assured that the new Syria will treat all parties equally, without supporting one side over another. He stressed that Syria will respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity and will not interfere negatively in Lebanese affairs. Al-Jolani also said that Syria's priority is to provide security and services to its own people, while offering "friendly advice" to help Lebanon overcome its sectarian divide. He added that Syria will work to use international pressure against Israeli incursions into Syrian territory.
Mohammad Al-Joulani: "The Syrians are peaceful people. They are to unpretentious to get into all these cultural, sectarian, and historical prejudices, for which they bear no guilt. These are events that took place 1,400 years ago. What is it to us? People come to take vengeance against the people of Syria for a historic incident that took place 1,400 years ago. What kind of logic is that? What do we have to do with all this? It wasn't us who killed those people... Whatever...
"In any case, by the irony of fate and in light of the tragicomic developments, some people take advantage of the jurisprudential circumstances and use slogans to incite people and occupy lands and countries. A Palestinian cause on the one hand, a historical cause on the other hand... The outcome is always the fall of Arab capitals in the hands of another country, like Iran.
[...]
"With regard to Lebanon, the new Syria will treat everybody equally. The advent of a new regime in Damascus does not mean that it will support one side against the other in Lebanon, regardless of the wounds of the past. I'd like to emphasize this.
"Syria will not interfere negatively in Lebanon. Absolutely not. Syria respects Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, independent decision-making, security, and stability. We will try, using friendly and loving advice, [to help] deliver Lebanon from its sectarian division, and reach the distribution of positions according to qualifications. We will do it with friendly and loving advice. I reiterate this so that nobody thinks that we are trying to interfere in Lebanon.
"Lebanon needs to emerge from its sectarian situation, because the division of power in the way that is done in Lebanon cannot lead to the building [of the country].
[...]
"Our priority in the near future is to provide security and services to the people, built the army, collect the weapons that are not controlled by the state, and to prevent any plans to divide Syria. We will try to use international pressure against the recent Israeli incursion into Syria. We adhered to the 1974 agreement and the buffer zone. We are ready for UN forces to move in, to secure the area, and to drop any pretext for anyone to occupy Syrian lands."
Latest Clips
