President al-Sharaa: Syrian people stand at the heart of a national battle to  protect country’s unity and preserve its stability

Damascus, SANA- President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad al-Sharaa, delivered a televised speech addressing the situation in the province of Sweida and the Israeli aggression:

The key points follow:

• Our people rose up in a revolution to achieve their freedom and emerged victorious, making enormous sacrifices. This people remain ready to fight for their dignity if it is threatened.
• The Israeli entity, which has long threatened our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the defunct regime, is now once again seeking to transform our blessed land into an arena of endless chaos. In doing so, it seeks to dismantle the unity of our people and weaken our ability to advance the path of reconstruction and progress.
• The Israeli entity is using every possible means to make conflict and strife, ignoring the fact that Syrians, throughout their long history, have rejected all forms of separation and partition.
• Possessing great power does not necessarily mean achieving victory. A war can be started, but it is not easy to control its results. We are the people of this land, and we are more than capable of overcoming all attempts by the Israeli entity to dismember us. We are too strong to allow our resolve to be shaken by a provoked sedition.
• Possessing superpowers does not necessarily mean victory. A war may break out, but it is not easy to control its outcomes. We are the sons of this land, and we are capable of repelling all attempts by the Israeli entity to dismember us. We are very strong and will not allow a provocative sedition to shake our resolve.
• We, the people of Syria, know well who is trying to drag us into war and who seeks to divide us. We will not give them the opportunity to embroil our people in a war they intend to ignite on our land. A war whose sole purpose is to fragment our homeland and scatter our efforts toward chaos and destruction.
• Syria is not a testing ground for foreign conspiracies, nor is it a place to achieve others’ ambitions at the expense of our children and women.
• The Syrian state is for all. Every Syrian’s dream is to rebuild their homeland. Through this state, we unite without discrimination to restore Syria’s prestige and place it at the forefront of nations living in security and stability.
• Our unity is our weapon, hard work is our path, and our strong will is the foundation upon which we will build this prosperous future.
• The state’s efforts to restore stability and expel illegal factions succeeded. In this instance, the Israeli entity resorted to launching large-scale attacks on civilian and government facilities to undermine these efforts, significantly complicating the situation and leading to a general escalation.
• Effective US, Arab, and Turkish mediation saved the region from an uncertain fate.
• We were faced with two choices: either open war with the Israeli entity at the expense of our Druze people and their security, destabilizing Syria and the entire region, or allowing the Druze notables and sheikhs to regain their senses and prioritize the national interest over those who seek to tarnish the reputation of the honorable people of Sweida.
• We are not afraid of war, and we have dedicated our lives to confronting challenges and defending our people. However, we place the interests of Syrians above chaos and destruction. The optimal decision at this stage was to make a prudent choice to protect the unity of our homeland and the security of its people, based on the supreme national interest.

Adnan / Manar