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'Syria and Israel share common enemies'

The self-appointed interim President of Syria Ahmed Al-Sharaa says

• The Cradle, May 31, 2025

Ahmed Al-Sharaa during an interview with the Jewish Journal stated that Israel and Syria share “common enemies” and said he is ready to engage with Tel Aviv if there is “a clear path to coexistence.”

“The era of endless tit-for-tat bombings must end. No nation prospers when its skies are filled with fear. The reality is, we have common enemies — and we can play a major role in regional security,” Sharaa, formerly known as Al-Qaeda leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, told the Los Angeles-based publication.

“Peace must be earned through mutual respect, not fear. We will engage where there is honesty and a clear path to coexistence — and walk away from anything less," he added.

Sharaa also voiced support for reviving the principles of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement (Dofa Accord), calling it a possible framework for “mutual restraint and protection of civilians.”

The statements from the de facto president come amid reports in western media saying Israeli and Syrian officials have been engaged in face-to-face talks over recent weeks aimed at “preventing another flareup along their shared border.”

After extremist armed groups led by Sharaa took over Syria in December, Israel promptly destroyed the country's military capabilities and occupied large areas of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights, Quneitra, and Deraa.

“There are indirect talks with Israel through mediators to calm and attempt to absorb the situation so that it does not reach a level that both sides lose control over,” Sharaa said earlier this month, also describing Israel's continued airstrikes of Syrian land as “random interventions."

He also said Damascus was talking to states that communicate with Israel to “pressure them to stop intervening in Syrian affairs and bomb some of its infrastructure.”