Syria not a threat to world, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa tells BBC

The de facto person of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said the state is exhausted by warfare and is not a menace to its neighbours oregon to the West.

In an interrogation with the BBC successful Damascus, helium called for sanctions connected Syria to beryllium lifted.

Sharaa led the lightning violative that toppled Bashar al-Assad's authorities little than 2 weeks ago. He is the person of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the ascendant radical successful the rebel alliance, and was antecedently known by his wartime pseudonym of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.

He said HTS should beryllium de-listed arsenic a violent organisation. It is designated arsenic 1 by the UN, US, EU and UK, among galore others, arsenic it started arsenic a splinter radical of al-Qaeda, which it broke distant from successful 2016.

Sharaa said HTS was not a violent group.

They did not people civilians oregon civilian areas, helium said. In fact, they considered themselves to beryllium unfortunate of the crimes of the Assad regime. The victims, helium said, should not beryllium treated the aforesaid mode arsenic the oppressors.

He denied that helium wanted to crook Syria into a mentation of Afghanistan.

Sharaa said the countries were precise different, with antithetic traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, helium said, determination was a antithetic mindset. He said helium believed successful acquisition for women.

Sharaa was relaxed passim the interview, wearing civilian clothes, and tried to connection reassurance to each those who judge his radical has not breached with its extremist past.

Many Syrians bash not judge him.

The actions of Syria's caller rulers successful the adjacent fewer months volition bespeak the benignant of state they privation Syria to beryllium - and the mode they privation to regularisation it.