SYRIA’S jihadist interim president accused Israel on Saturday of fighting “ghosts” and searching for enemies following the war in Gaza.

President Ahmad al-Sharaa told an international conference that since he took power a year ago, he has been sending “positive messages regarding regional peace and stability.”

He said that Israel has rejected his overtures, “extrapolating” its conflict with Hamas militants and justifying what he called aggression in the name of security. He promised Syria would not behave in that way.

“We are not concerned in being a country that exports conflict, including to Israel,” he told the Doha Forum.

Mr Sharaa, who was once detained by the United States for joining al-Qaida in Iraq, called on Israel to withdraw its forces from his country and to recommit to a 1974 truce agreement.

He called on the international community to put pressure on Israel and expressed hope a formula could be reached to meet “reasonable” security demands.

Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has held a slice of southern Syria that was previously a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone under a 1974 disengagement agreement.

Israel claims it seized the 155-square-mile demilitarised buffer zone in southern Syria in a pre-emptive move to prevent militants from moving into the area.