Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shibani, has said Israeli military action following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule has left Syrians “stunned,” complicating any prospects of normalization between the two countries.
Speaking in an exclusive conversation with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria at the Council on Foreign Relations, al-Shibani accused Israel of undermining Syria at a moment when the country was grappling with a surge of sectarian unrest in its southern regions.
“The strikes obstructed the Syrian government,” he said, stressing that a “strong and unified Syria would be good for regional security, and that will benefit Israel.”
Assad’s ouster last December, ending decades of rule and removing a key ally of Iran, triggered an Israeli military response. For the first time in half a century, Israeli forces moved ground troops into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone while also launching airstrikes on Syrian military facilities.
Israel justified the campaign as a measure to stop chemical weapons and long-range missiles from falling “into the hands of extremists.”
Yet, al-Shibani argued that ordinary Syrians had been shocked by the intervention, noting that “militias of Iran or Hezbollah, all of these militias left with the late regime.”
“We are no threat to anyone in the region, including Israel,” he added. “But these new policies of cooperation and peace were met by these threats and strikes.”
When asked about reconciliation efforts, the minister admitted normalization would be a challenge. “So, to talk about normalization and the Abraham Accords is a bit difficult,” he said, referencing the 2020 agreements that opened relations between Israel and several Arab states.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday that the accords remain “remarkably resilient and strong” despite the ongoing war in Gaza. “I think you’ll see that not only are the Abraham Accords not endangered, they’ll be expanded to other countries,” he said.
Israel has also confirmed that discussions with Syria are underway, raising the possibility of a future security arrangement.
Inside Syria, however, instability has deepened since Assad’s fall. In March, government forces launched a deadly crackdown on the Alawite sect in Latakia, followed in April by fighting between pro-government troops and Druze militias.
By July, violence between Druze and Bedouin tribes escalated into broader clashes, drawing further Israeli strikes, officially framed as protection for the Druze community.
A war monitor reported that nearly 718 people were killed in the southern Druze-majority province of Suwayda in just one week of July violence. Aerial images from the city showed plumes of smoke rising after heavy clashes.
Asked about Israel’s role, al-Shibani said: “It supported outlaws, outlaw groups and this obstructed and hindered the Syrian government from solving the problem between the Bedouins and the Druze. What Israel did just complicates matters and made the Druze in a very difficult and embarrassing situation.”
In the same interview, the minister welcomed recent U.S. decisions to remove sanctions imposed during Assad’s rule.
“The position of the United States, vis a vis Syria, since the day of liberation, is a very positive position, and it actually was met by great support among Syrian people, including the lifting of sanctions,” he said.
The remarks came just days after Syria’s new president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, addressed the United Nations for the first time. A former jihadist, Al-Sharaa called for an end to all sanctions, declaring that they “shackle the Syrian people.”
“We’ve suffered injustice and deprivation and oppression,” Al-Sharaa told delegates as he reflected on Assad’s downfall. “Then we rose in claiming our dignity.”
