Syria's Sharaa says he is not interested in new conflicts amid Israeli incursion

PHOTO CAPTION: U.N. Syria envoy Geir Pedersen meets with head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani in Damascus, Syria in this handout released on December 15, 2024. Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via REUTERS

By Hatem Maher

(Reuters) -     Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa said on Saturday Israel is using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but that he is not interested in engaging in new conflicts as the country focuses on rebuilding following the end of Bashar al-Assad's reign. 

Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - leads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that swept Assad from power last week, ending the family's five-decade iron-fisted rule.

Israel has since moved into a demilitarised zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian military post. 

Israel, which has said that it does not intend to stay there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria's strategic weapons stockpiles.

Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, condemned what they called Israel's seizure of a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.   

"Israeli arguments have become weak and no longer justify their recent violations. The Israelis have clearly crossed the lines of engagement in Syria, which poses a threat of unwarranted escalation in the region," Sharaa said in an interview published on the website of Syria TV, a pro-opposition channel.

"Syria's war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction."

He also said diplomatic solutions were the only way to ensure security and stability and that "uncalculated military adventures" were not wanted.

On Russia, whose military intervention almost a decade ago helped tip the balance in Assad's favour and which gave asylum to the ousted leader earlier this week, Sharaa said that its relations with Syria should serve common interests.

"The current stage requires careful management of international relations," he added. 

(This story has been corrected to say 'family's five-decade iron-fisted rule,' not '13-year rule,' in paragraph 2)

 (Reporting by Hatem Maher; Editing by Sandra Maler)