We Are Not Looking For A Fight With Israel: HTS Leader Jolani 

Israel has already conducted at least 300 major strikes on Syria since Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over Damascus and much of the country, with President Assad having fled to Moscow, where’s he’s been given asylum.

Israeli warplanes have been able to launch attacks with impunity, having decimated airbases, missile storehouses, and even chemical weapons facilities. Israel has finally degraded and destroyed what was once among the most feared anti-air defense system and network in the region (which is why previously Israeli warplanes only launched attacks on Syria from over Lebanese airspace). 

Throughout this past week, HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (who is now reverting to his birth name of Ahmad al-Sharaa) remained noticeably silent on the non-stop Israeli attacks which have kept all of Damascus awake at night and involved low flying Israeli warplanes.

But on Saturday Jolani is seeking to give Israel ‘assurances’ – also as IDF tanks and troops have crossed into Syria and have expanded occupation of more parts of the south. He said his new government has “no intention of confronting Israel.”

“We are not looking to engage in a conflict with Israel and cannot bear such a battle,” Jolani continued, and further pointed out he’s not looking for war with Iran either.

He signaled intent for “no hostilities with the Iranian people” but also called Assad’s ouster “a victory over the dangerous Iranian project in the region.”

He said Syrian state “should not be governed with a revolutionary mindset, and we need laws and institutions [to this end]” – as he pledges to bring stability and has said he won’t let his forces embark on revenge killings.

There have been reports of Sunni Islamist militants targeting Alawite villages in the Latakia or possibly central Syrian countryside, but thus far no evidence of attacks on ethno-religions minorities in Damascus or major cities have emerged.

The Druze community, which is an Islamic offshoot in the south and considered heretical by hardline Sunnis, is deeply fearful and some tribes near Golan are actually seeking Israeli production. The Druze leadership doesn’t trust the jihadists of HTS and are actually petitioning Israel to annex their villages:

In a video posted to X on Friday that features captions in English, a Hader resident claiming to be a representative of the Druze people, an esoteric ethnoreligious group, urged a large crowd to consider what their future will be like. The village is located within the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, which IDF troops entered last week.

“If we have to choose, we will choose the lesser evil,” he said. “And even if it’s considered evil to ask to be annexed to the [Israeli] Golan, it’s a much lesser evil than the evil coming our way,” the man added, apparently referring to the HTS, which was formerly known as the Al Nusra front – an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Syria.

BREAKING: The Druze leader of al-Suwayda in southwestern Syria issued a statement for his village.

“We will not agree to live under the rule of the rebels, who are identical to ISIS, we want to live under Israeli rule and become part of Israel.”
pic.twitter.com/x5y1IqSqrM

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) December 13, 2024

The man warned, clearly in reference to the armed jihadist factions now all over Syria: “That evil might take our women, might take our daughters, they might take our houses.”

Israel has meanwhile signaled it plans to keep its military presence in southern Syria, and will maintain a forward operating base on the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon.