The new governor of Damascus, Maher Marwan, expressed earlier this week the desire of the new authorities in Syria to "establish peaceful relations with Israel," while showing himself to be "understanding" towards the distrust of Israel aroused according to him by the rise to power of the "factions" which contributed to the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8. These factions are led by the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the new leader of Syria.

In an interview with the American radio station NPR (National Public Radio), published on the media's website on Thursday, Marwan estimated that Israel would have felt "fear" in the face of recent changes in Syria, "which would explain" its most recent operations carried out on Syrian territory, by "advancing a little and bombing a little."

Since the Assad dictatorship was overthrown, Israel has struck Syrian territory dozens of times, including military infrastructure and airports, and its army has deployed in the demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights in Syria and beyond, in violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement.

No 'fear' of Israel

Despite the strikes and the raid, Marwan said he was "not afraid of Israel, nor did he have any problems" with the neighboring country. Damascus has "no intention of intervening in matters that threaten the security of Israel," the governor added, expressing the authorities' desire for "peace, and not to be adversaries of Israel or anyone else." Going even further, he called on the United States to "support Syria in developing better relations" with Israel, according to NPR.