UNITED NATIONS: Syria’s new leader warned on Wednesday in a UN address that Israeli raids on his country risked new conflict, and promised accountability after his country’s brutal civil war.

“I guarantee to bring to justice and hold everyone accountable who was responsible for the bloodshed,” Ahmed al-Sharaa said in the first address by a Syrian president to the UN General Assembly in decades.

“In this context, Israeli strikes and attacks against my country continue, contradicting the international support for Syria and threatening new crises,” he said.

“Syria has transformed from an exporter of crisis to an opportunity for peace,” Sharaa said.

He said that Syria was committed to a ceasefire agreement reached after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which Israel has declared at least temporarily void.

Meanwhile, Syria and Israel are close to striking a “de-escalation” agreement in which Israel will stop its attacks while Syria will agree to not move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border, a senior US envoy said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said the agreement would serve as the first step towards the security deal that the two countries have been negotiating.

Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.

US President Donald Trump has sought to strike an agreement between the two sides that would be announced this week but not enough progress has been made so far and the Rosh Hashana holiday, the Jewish New Year this week, has slowed down the process, Barrack said.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025