Ahmad al-Khatib, the interim president of Syria, said in an interview with The Washington Post that Syria needs Russia because of its permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and therefore Syria has expectations of Russian support.

When asked by a journalist whether Syria had ever requested Russia to extradite Bashar al-Assad, this Syrian leader responded: "We need Russia to be aligned with us on specific issues, and there are areas of strategic interest between our two countries. We do not want to force Russia to seek alternative solutions to the Syrian issue."

He added that the Assad issue has raised concerns in Russia, and pointed out that bilateral relations are still in the building stage. At the same time, al-Khatib emphasized that the Syrian people retain the right to hold former leaders accountable.

Al-Khatib arrived in the United States for an official visit on November 9, and met with US President Donald Trump the next day. Under the framework of this visit, Washington partially lifted sanctions against Syria, and the US Department of State removed the Syrian president from the list of terrorists. Last week, the UN Security Council also lifted sanctions against Syria. The Syrian leader himself claimed that his country has become an ally of the United States.

On October 15, this new Syrian leader made his first visit to Moscow, where he held a two-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Al-Khatib claimed that relations with Russia have been restarted, while the Russian president's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, did not respond to whether the issue of Assad's future was discussed. According to Reuters, the new Syrian government had twice requested Moscow to extradite Assad - the former president, who moved to Russia after stepping down last year and received asylum.

Al-Khatib became the interim president of Syria after the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024. In the Republic of Syria, Assad has been wanted by the court in absentia since 2011 for suppressing protests.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7571753659659272756/

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