Head of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-led (HTS) administration has expressed readiness to normalize Syrian ties with “Israel” amid Washington’s plans to revoke anti-Damascus sanctions and Israel’s occupation of more Syrian land.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani was quoted by US Congressman Cory Mills as saying after a meeting in Syria last week that Damascus “was interested under the right conditions” to normalize ties with Tel Aviv.
Mills told Bloomberg that he discussed with the HTS regime’s president the steps needed for him to obtain sanctions relief, with Jolani responding during their 90-minute meeting that Syria seeks to join the Abraham Accords — the series of normalization agreements that US President Donald Trump’s previous administration negotiated between Israel and a few Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The US congressman said he had told Jolani that Syria must destroy the chemical weapons allegedly left behind by the Assad government, partner with neighboring countries on countering terrorism and deal with foreign fighters who filled the ranks of the HTS.
Stating that Jolani is open to clarifying how he plans to address the presence of foreign fighters still operating in Syria, Mills told Bloomberg that he had pressed Jolani to provide assurances to Israel.
Mills also said Syria’s self-proclaimed president had provided him with a letter to take to Trump, without providing details on its contents.
The 42-year-old Jolani was in prison in Iraq for years on charges of belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist outfit after the 2003 US-led invasion of the Arab country. He is still under US and UN sanctions for his ties to the terrorist group, which the American officials confirmed to have been established by the then administration in Washington.
The US imposed debilitating sanctions on Syria after the onset of foreign-sponsored militancy in the Arab country in 2011. The bans have generally remained in place since the HTS toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad late last year.
Since the collapse of Assad’s government, the Israeli military has been launching airstrikes against military installations, facilities, and arsenals belonging to Syria’s now-defunct army.
The Israeli regime has also intensified its aggression on Syria by initiating an unlawful land appropriation beyond the occupied Golan Heights in what is seen as a component of the so-called “Greater Israel” project.
This strategic territory has been occupied by “Israel” since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Israeli military in December advanced beyond the Golan Heights demilitarized buffer zone, occupying Mount Hermon and other strategic areas inside Syria, in violation of a 1974 international agreement between “Israel” and Syria.
Source: Press TV
