For first time in nearly 6 decades, Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa steps up to speak at UN

UNITED NATIONS: Turning the page on decades of distance, Syria’s president Ahmad al-Sharaa addressed the UN General Assembly, marking the first time any president from his country has done so in almost 60 years. said Wednesday that Syria is returning to the international community after six decades of dictatorship that killed 1 million people and tortured hundreds of thousands. “Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world,” he told the assembly’s annual gathering.Al-Sharaa became the first Syrian head of state to speak at the UN since Noureddine Attasi gave a speech in 1967 shortly after the Arab-Israeli war, during which Damascus lost control of the Golan Heights that Israel later annexed in 1981.The Assad family dynasty’s 50-year rule in Syria abruptly collapsed in Dec, when then-President Bashar Assad was ousted in an insurgent offensive led by al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa blasted Israel in his speech, saying that it did not stop its threats to his country since the fall of Assad adding that its policies “contradict with the international community’s support to Syria and its people” in what endangers the region and could make enter conflicts that no one know how they could end. Talks have been under way for a deal that al-Sharaa has said he hopes will bring about a withdrawal of Israeli forces. While al-Sharaa said last week that a deal could be reached in a matter of days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in remarks Sunday appeared to downplay the odds of a breakthrough.