Syria's Sharaa distances himself from Abraham Accords in surreal interview with former CIA foe

Syria and Israel are in advanced security talks, but any deal reached will fall short of the Abraham Accords-style normalisation agreements, given anger towards Israel in the Arab world, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Monday.

"I hope that that will lead us to an agreement that will keep the sovereignty of Syria and also resolve some of the security fears of Israel,” Sharaa told former CIA director David Pataeus at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

Sharaa’s visit to New York has been hotly anticipated, as he is the first Syrian leader to enter the US and attend the General Assembly since 1967.

Sharaa led the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in an offensive that overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year. The US dropped a $10m bounty on Sharaa late last year and removed its terror designation on HTS in July.

Observers have noted how surreal it is to see Petraeus interviewing Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda member.

Sharaa was imprisoned in Iraq by the US military when Petraeus, then a US general, led the American troop “surge”. Sharaa was one of thousands of foreigners who flocked to Iraq to fight the Americans.

Patraeus, who called himself a “fan” of Sharaa, noted the irony of the two former foes sitting together for a discussion at the Concordia Annual Summit.

“It is good that we moved from war to dialogue. Someone who went through war is one who knows best the importance of peace,” Sharaa told him.

'Gaza impacts Israel position'

Sharaa’s appearance appeared to temper any expectations of a sweeping deal with Israel. He also dismissed speculation that Syria could join the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreements brokered by the US where the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel.

"Syria is different, as those that are part of the Abraham Accords are not Israel's neighbours. Syria has been subjected to more than 1,000 Israeli raids, strikes and incursions from the Golan Heights into Syria," Sharaa said.

He also voiced doubts about trusting Israel, questioning whether it sought to expand in Syria and noting that Israel has violated peace agreements with two other neighbours, Egypt and Jordan.

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"There is also huge anger over what's going on in Gaza, not only in Syria but in the entire world, and of course, this impacts our position on Israel," he said.

US envoy Tom Barrack, who has been mediating talks between the Syrians and Israelis, described Sharaa as a “pragmatist” in a previous interview but said he would not join the Abraham Accords because he “has a backing of Sunni fundamentalists”.

Sharaa met US President Donald Trump in May in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While he has been delisted in the US, he is still designated a terrorist by the UN.

Sharaa is scheduled to address the assembly this week.

One of Sharaa’s top objectives in the US is to lobby for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria. Trump announced that all sanctions would be removed from Syria in May. Over the summer, the administration lifted the bulk of sanctions on Syria, but some, such as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, remain in force as law and can only be repealed by Congress.

Sharaa praised Trump for removing sanctions and called on Congress to take further action, saying they were no longer necessary with the collapse of the Assad government.

However, some US lawmakers are seeking reassurances that Sharaa’s government, which is comprised mainly of former HTS members, will protect Syrian minorities following violence against Christians, Alawites and Druze this summer.

By far, the most sensitive file Sharaa has to address is Israel, which has pummelled Syria with air strikes, including the Ministry of Defence and near the Presidential Palace. Syria took advantage of the Assad government’s collapse to occupy a swath of southwestern Syria and the strategic Mount Hermon.

Security talks

Sharaa’s government is in direct talks with Israel, brokered by the US, to reach a security agreement. Israeli media reports say Israel is demanding a no-fly zone over southern Syria up to the capital, Damascus, and a vast security zone where Syrian soldiers will not be allowed to deploy.

Reuters reported that Israel is funding and arming as many as 3,000 Druze militia fighters in the area. Sharaa’s forces clashed with the Druze earlier this summer, and both sides reported the commission of atrocities.

Sharaa is also trying to exert control over northeastern Syria. The region governed itself autonomously after the Syrian Civil War under the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The US backed the Kurdish-led SDF to fight the Islamic State militant group, but that support riled Turkey, which fought a decades-old insurgency against Kurdish separatists, called the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The SDF is widely viewed as the Syrian branch of the PKK.

The PKK announced it was disbanding in May as part of a historic peace deal with Ankara, but its cadres in Syria haven't toed the same line. 

Turkey is Sharaa’s main military backer and has an outsized influence in Damascus. The Trump administration has been pushing the SDF to integrate into the Syrian military. Those efforts, led by Barrack, have upset some US officials who see the Kurds as allies.