Syria to Israel: We want peace, minorities are safe

Syria is uninterested in conflict with Israel but opposes recent statements by Israel regarding the demilitarization of southern Syria and the detachment of the Druze there from the rest of the country, according to a Syrian source speaking to Kann News.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that southern Syria should be entirely demilitarized and become an effectively autonomous zone, where the Syrian central government cannot interfere, for the sake of protecting the Druze there and serving as a security buffer for Israel.

In response, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met with a delegation of the Druze community in southern Syria to try and reassure both them and Israel that they have nothing to fear from the new government.

"There is no threat to security inside Syria. We want peace. We have no enemies. We want to build a country and provide services," al-Shara told participants in the meeting and added: "We have no intention of starting a war with anyone."

Al-Shara claimed, according to the same Syrian source, that the escalation in Israeli rhetoric toward Syria is unjustified, and that the danger that threatened Israel from the Syrian front - Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and Iran - no longer exists. Additionally, al-Shara noted that his government is working to confiscate all weapons being smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria.

As part of the Syrian National Dialogue Conference yesterday, representatives of all groups within Syria firmly rejected any Israeli presence on Syrian soil or effort to detach southern Syria from the rest of the country, according to Kann News.

According to the report, the Conference resolutions included the following: "1. Preserving the unity of the Syrian Arab Republic and its sovereignty over all its territory, and opposing any form of division or relinquishing any part of the homeland's territory. 2. Condemning the Israeli invasion of Syrian territory, which constitutes a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty, and demanding an immediate and unconditional withdrawal, and opposing the provocative statements of the Israeli Prime Minister and calling on the international community to stop the aggression and violations."

These resolutions address the IDF's presence in southern Syria, as part of what Israel calls a "defensive" operation meant to ensure no weapons are present in the region which can be used to attack Israel. Here, Syria demand all soldiers withdraw.