President Ahmad al-Sharaa delivered an address at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, declaring Syria’s break from decades of oppression, calling for a full lifting of sanctions, and urging the international community to help prevent new cycles of conflict in the region.
“I have come to you from Damascus, the capital of history and the cradle of civilizations, the land that taught the world the meaning of civilization and peaceful coexistence,” President al-Sharaa said, framing his speech as a message of transformation.
He added that Syria had been “crushed under the weight of an oppressive, tyrannical regime” for 60 years, one that “never understood the value of the land it ruled.” Syrians, he noted, endured years of “suffering and deprivation” before rising up for their dignity, only to be met with death.
“Our military campaign did not displace a single person or kill a single civilian,” al-Sharaa said, describing it as a victory “free of vengeance or enmity,” President al-Sharaa said the campaign paved the way for refugees to return and “halted the export of drugs” from Syria to other countries.
Turning to regional tensions, President al-Sharaa warned that Israeli threats against Syria have not ceased since December 8, accusing Israel of trying to exploit Syria’s transitional phase and risking “dragging the region into new cycles of conflict whose outcome no one can predict.”
President al-Sharaa stressed that Syria is committed to dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis and pledged to uphold the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Israel, calling on the international community “to stand by the Syrian side” and respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Outlining the Syrian government’s agenda, President al-Sharaa said Syria has adopted a policy built on three pillars: balanced diplomacy, security stability, and economic development. He noted that his administration has filled the power vacuum, launched a national dialogue, formed a government of technocrats, established transitional justice and missing persons commissions, and restructured civilian and military institutions under the principle of keeping all arms under state control.
President al-Sharaa added that Syria has restored international relations through “active diplomacy,” prompting a gradual easing of sanctions.
“We call for a full lifting of sanctions so they are no longer used as a tool to shackle the Syrian people or strip them of their freedom once again,” he concluded.
