Syrian president says working to keep country out of regional war

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said Friday he is working to keep his country away from conflict, against the backdrop of the Middle East war, stressing that his government is on good terms with all regional countries.

In a speech delivered after the Eid Al-Fitr prayer in the presidential palace in Damascus, Sharaa said: ‘‘We are calculating our steps with extreme precision and working to keep Syria away from any conflict.’‘

‘‘It is important to remember that Syria has always been an arena of conflict and strife during the past 15 years and before that, but today it is in harmony with all neighboring countries regionally and internationally,’‘ he said.

He added that Syria stood ‘‘in full solidarity with the Arab states.’‘

War in the Middle East erupted after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, to which Tehran responded by targeting Israel and carrying out attacks on US embassies and interests, as well as energy facilities and civilian targets in Gulf states.

The war spread to Lebanon, Syria’s neighbor, with Israel conducting large-scale strikes in response to attacks by Hezbollah, and to Iraq, where bases of Iran-aligned Iraqi armed factions have been hit by air raids.

After Syria had been, for all the years of the conflict that ravaged it, an arena of competition for international powers, the country has thus far remained at a distance from the regional escalation.

Syrians are seeing the war from afar, while Israel intercepts Iranian missiles passing through the skies overhead.

Still, Syria is not entirely free from violence. On Friday Israel’s military said it had struck Syrian army camps in response for what it called attacks against the Druze community in the southern Sweida province.

Syrian state media did not mention the clashes or the Israeli airstrikes.

Source: Arab News 
--Agencies