Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara on Tuesday said he had not decided whether to run in a future election but would do so if he believed he needed to stay in office to carry out his plans.
Asked by The National during an Atlantic Council event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly whether he would stand for re-election after Syria’s transitional period, Mr Al Shara said he had three years left in office and was focused on governing.
“I haven’t thought about being elected,” he said. “Right now, we are focusing on serving people.” But if remaining in office was necessary to complete that work, he said, “I will nominate myself".
Mr Al Shara said he would prefer to return to a normal life because governing was “really tiresome”. “If I believe that I need to remain in power, I will stay there," he said.
Mr Al Shara criticised Israel's strikes on Syria and questioned whether they made Israelis safer.
“Even the presidential palace has been bombed twice by Israel. Our airports are being bombed by Israel. Will that bring security to Israeli citizens?” he asked. “I believe the problem is with Israel, not Syria.”
He also recounted joking with US President Donald Trump during a White House visit about Washington’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Mr Al Shara said he had suggested that Mr Trump give Israel New Jersey instead, since the US owned it and its residents had not voted for him.
“But President Trump doesn’t own the Golan Heights,” he said. “The Golan Heights is owned by its own people. It’s neither for the Syrian President nor the American President nor any other person to abandon them or give them up to others.”
On Lebanon, Mr Al Shara said Syria wanted to strengthen the government and its institutions, including by bringing all weapons under state control.
“The Syrian ideas that we have are to empower the Lebanese government to have better institutions ... to have the state taking control over all the weapons in the Lebanese state,” he said.
