Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that Syria had become “a country of peace and prosperity” in the region, pledging justice for past crimes and urging the world to lift all sanctions on Damascus.
Al-Sharaa, the first Syrian head of state to address the assembly since 1967, accused the former government of killing about one million people, destroying two million homes and employing “the ugliest tools of torture” against citizens.
He vowed to bring those responsible to justice and said attempts to stir sectarian strife aimed at dividing the country had failed. “We worked to fill the power vacuum, called for a comprehensive national dialogue, announced a government of competence, strengthened the principle of partnership, and established a national body for transitional justice as well as another for the missing,” he said.
The Syrian leader called on the international community to lift all sanctions, which he said cripple ordinary Syrians. “We have adopted a policy based on diplomacy and stability and we commit to the disengagement agreement,” he said, referring to the 1974 accord that ended fighting with Israel on the Golan Heights.
Al-Sharaa said Syria was rebuilding itself as a state of law rooted in its ancient civilization. Since the fall of the former regime, he said, his government had pursued policies anchored in balanced diplomacy, security stability and economic development.
“Syria today uses dialogue and diplomacy to overcome this crisis and reaffirms its commitment to the 1974 disengagement agreement. We call on the international community to stand by us in facing these challenges and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.
He said legislative elections were under way, while civil and military institutions had been restructured through dissolving old armed formations under the principle of placing all weapons in the hands of the state.
“In this eternal battle between right and wrong, the Syrian story is writing a new chapter – one filled with creativity, confrontation, determination, patience, suffering, sacrifice and noble values,” al-Sharaa told delegates.
