The president of the Syrian Liberal Party issues a firm rebuttal to an i24NEWS report suggesting back-channel dealings between Syrian opposition figures and Israel.
Fahad Al Masri © Mena Today
Fahad Al Masri, president of the Syrian Liberal Party, has issued a public statement pushing back against reports, originally published by Israeli television network i24NEWS and citing a Trump administration source, that suggested contacts between Syrian opposition circles and Israel.
His response is unambiguous. Following what he describes as Israeli "aggression against Syrian territory," all channels of communication with Jerusalem were severed. "We are not instruments in anyone's hands, nor are we traitors to our Syrian homeland," he writes, accusing Netanyahu's government of having long preferred the perpetuation of the Assad regime over the emergence of a new Syria.
On the United States, Al Masri's tone is markedly warmer. He praises the Trump administration for supporting Syria's stability, lifting sanctions and working to curtail Iranian influence, while insisting that any future Syrian government must be built on competence, transparency and loyalty to Syria alone, stemming from "the will of the Syrian people themselves."
Al Masri also takes care to establish his personal credentials: he has held no political office, has lived in exile in France since 1995, and holds no nationality other than Syrian.
"Although I have waited more than thirty years for the fall of the Assad regime to return to Damascus," he writes, "I have chosen to place Syria's interest above any personal consideration."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon will continue despite the ceasefire that entered into force on 17 April, citing what he described as a "double threat" from the Iran-backed group's remaining arsenal.
The Lebanese president delivers his sharpest rebuke yet to Hezbollah after the group's leader condemned direct negotiations with Israel as destabilising.
Israel's military issued new evacuation orders for southern Lebanon on Sunday, ordering residents to leave seven towns that lie beyond the "buffer zone" it occupied before a ceasefire that has failed to bring a full halt to hostilities.
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