Egypt Daily News – The commander of the military administration in Syria, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, announced that the country is exhausted by war and does not pose a threat to its neighbors or the West.
In an interview with the BBC in Damascus, Al-Sharaa called for lifting the sanctions imposed on Syria. Al-Sharaa led the lightning attack that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime less than two weeks ago.
The leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the dominant group in the coalition of armed factions, al-Sharaa was previously known by his alias, Abu Muhammad al-Julani.
Al-Sharaa said that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham must be removed from the list of terrorist organizations, according to the classification of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham began as a splinter group from Al-Qaeda, and separated from the latter in 2016.
Al-Sharaa stressed that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is not a terrorist group.
He said they did not target civilians or civilian areas. In fact, they considered themselves victims of the crimes of the Assad regime. He pointed out that victims should not be treated in the same way as oppressors.
Al-Sharaa denied that he wants to turn Syria into a copy of Afghanistan and said that the two countries are very different, and have different traditions, considering that Afghanistan is a tribal society.
He explained that Syria has a different mentality, explaining that he believes in educating women.
