‘We want peace, and we cannot be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Maher Marwan, appointed as the new governor of Damascus, has declared that he seeks peace with Israel, ynet reports.
Marwan, who was appointed by Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly Abu Mohammed al-Golani), said in an interview in the US he intended no harm to Israel.
“There exists a people who want coexistence. They want peace. They don’t want disputes. We want peace, and we cannot be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone,” he said in an interview with U.S. public radio network NPR.
At the same time, he acknowledged that, given the tense history between Israel and Syria, Israelis may be a bit hesitant to fully accept this.
“It’s natural for Israel to be worried about certain factions.” He added, ” Israel may have felt fear, so it advanced a little, bombed a little, etc. We have no fear towards Israel, and our problem is not with Israel. And we don’t want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel’s security or any other country’s security.”
Although a US official conveyed the Syrian leaders’ message, the official said there would be no rush to encourage diplomatic relations between the countries at present.
As the IDF gears up for troops to remain in a former buffer zone for the foreseeable future, Israel has warned Syria’s new government that it will not tolerate the presence of radical Islamic extremists on its border.
While Israel is not in direct contact with the rebels, the country’s leaders are communicating with Syria’s emerging government via third parties, including the U.S., according to a Ynet report.
Jerusalem was said to have stressed that the Jewish state will neutralize any threat posed by armed extremists along its shared border with Syria.