Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa condemned Israel’s ongoing strikes on his country and said Damascus is “committed to dialogue” and to a 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.

In his speech — the first by a Syrian leader at the UN since 1967 — Sharaa called for the removal of sanctions on his country, and highlighted Syria’s suffering under what he described as six decades of murderous dictatorship brought to an end by the toppling of longtime President Bashar Al-Assad in December, led by Sharaa’s forces.

The Syrians’ suffering made it incumbent on them to “stand with the people of Gaza, its children and women,” Sharaa said at the end of his speech, calling for an end to the fighting sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Following Sharaa’s speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement on negotiations for a security pact with Damascus, in which he stressed that Israel would not agree to a deal that does not guarantee the safety of Syria’s Druze minority.

A deal with Syria, the Israeli statement said, “depends on ensuring Israel’s interests, which include, among other things, the demilitarization of southwestern Syria and safeguarding the safety and security of the Druze in Syria.”

Israel, home to about 150,000 Druze, cited a need to protect the Syrian Druze when carrying out airstrikes in the country earlier this year, amid sectarian violence in which forces loyal to Sharaa allegedly took part in massacres against the Druze.

Netanyahu’s statement confirmed for the second time this week that Israel was negotiating with Syria, and it came as the premier was set to leave for the UN General Assembly, with reports indicating that he could hold a historic meeting with the Syrian leader in New York.

Israel and Syria have officially been at war since 1948, when Israel was established. The war is rooted in territorial disputes, military confrontations and deep-seated political mistrust.

Following Assad’s ouster, Israel seized the Syrian side of the two countries’ buffer zone, citing a fear that the area would fall into the wrong hands. The area was delineated under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Israel has also frequently carried out strikes against assets and infrastructure belonging to Assad’s former military, which was bolstered in its final years by forces from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah.

Sharaa, the former head of a rebel jihadi group once affiliated with al-Qaeda, vowed in his speech “to try to uproot sectarianism and to fight against attempts to divide our country once again” as it seeks to reinvent itself.

“Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world,” he said. “Syria has transformed from an exporter of crisis to an opportunity for peace for Syria and the region.”

Sharaa said the Assad regime, which fell at the end of a nearly 14-year civil war, had used “the worst torture against our people, the chemical weapons and bombardment.”

“It has torn our country apart and brought forth fighters from around the world. The former regime killed around a million innocent people and displaced thousands and millions and demolished 2 million homes,” he said.

The Syrian people “had no choice but to organize militarily to oust a criminal regime,” he said, adding that the rebel offensive “prioritized tolerance and that did not target civilians. It targeted justice without vengeance. We restored our rights and we became victorious.”

“I guarantee to bring to justice and hold everyone accountable who was responsible for the bloodshed,” Sharaa said.

“In this context, Israeli strikes and attacks against my country continue, contradicting the international support for Syria and threatening new crises,” he added.

“In the face of this aggression, Syria is committed to dialogue, and we are committed to the disengagement of the Forces Agreement of 1974,” said Sharaa. “We call on the international community to stand beside us in the face of these attacks.”

Sharaa called for the complete dismantlement of sanctions levied on his country under the Assad regime. US President Donald Trump met him in Riyadh in May and ordered most sanctions lifted, but the Caesar Syria Civil Protection Act of 2019, which authorized the sanctions, remains US law.

Damascus is “building institutions and laws that guarantee the rights of all without exception,” said Sharaa. “We are determined to restore Syria’s glory, dignity, and honor.”

He thanked “everyone who stood by the Syrian cause,” specifying, “Turkey, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and all Arab and Islamic States, the United States of America and the European Union.”

Concluding, Sharaa said, “the suffering Syria endured we wish upon no one. We are among the people most deeply aware of the horrors of war and destruction.”

“For this reason, we stand firmly with the people of Gaza, its children and women, and all people facing violations and aggression. We call for an immediate end to the war,” he said.