DAMASCUS, Syria — The newly appointed governor of Damascus has called on the United States to use its influence to push for cordial relations with Israel.
In a wide-ranging interview with NPR, Governor Maher Marwan, 42, said that Syria's new government did not want to seek conflict with Israel, which has been striking strategic military installations in Syria since the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad fell earlier this month.
"We have no fear towards Israel and our problem is not with Israel," Marwan said. "We don't want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel's security or any other country's security."
Sitting in a massive office in central Damascus, furnished with Syrian arabesque wooden chairs and colorfully painted walls, Marwan, wearing a suit and tie, greeted the NPR team. He only shook hands with the male members of the group.
The governor said it was understandable that Israel was concerned when the new Syrian government took power, because of certain "factions."
"Israel may have felt fear at the beginning," Marwan said. "So it advanced a little, bombed a little."
In addition to Israel's strikes on military installations, it also has seized parts of the Golan Heights, stoking fears in Syria of annexation.
And yet Marwan called Israel's fear "natural."
Israel and Syria have never had diplomatic ties. They share a border but have been in a state of war since Israel's founding in 1948. The two nations have fought several wars over the decades, and travel between them has been forbidden.
A cautious response from Israel
"This is good news … very, very remarkable," Uzi Rabi, a senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said of Marwan's remarks to NPR.
Rabi said the overture is noteworthy considering Syria's historic opposition to Israel's existence, and reflects the pragmatism of Syria's new leadership: it must rehabilitate the country and cannot afford a war with Israel.
Marwan said his views represented those of the city of Damascus, and the political views of his boss – Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa – and the foreign ministry.
Sharaa – the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the offensive that toppled the Assad regime on Dec. 8 – has previously said that he does not want conflict with Israel.
HTS is a designated terrorist organization by the United States and has roots in al-Qaida, even though the group broke away years ago.
A U.S. delegation met with Sharaa in Damascus last week and announced that a $10 million bounty would be lifted off the Syrian leader's head.
Marwan called on Washington to share HTS' message with Israel.
"There exists a people who want peace and not disputes," Marwan said.
A U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter told NPR that the U.S. relayed HTS' message, but that Washington has not urged either country in any direction.
In a statement to NPR, Israel's response was unequivocal.
"Israel is taking measures to ensure that the security of its citizens is maintained," the statement from the Foreign Ministry said. "We advise the international community to remember that Syria's new ruling power seized large parts of Syria by force. It was not democratically elected. It has long-standing historical ties toal-Qaida. This is an extremist Islamist regime that simply moved from Idlib to Damascus."
The statement added: "The USA has not pressured Israel to act differently."
Rabi said Israel's cautious response reflects a "loss of confidence" in the viability of peace after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But he predicted Israel might engage in dialogue with the new Syrian leadership through confidence-building measures in the coming months, leading to "semi-normalization" of relations through security cooperation along the border.
"You could look like a fool if you are going to say, 'Hey, everything is okay. Peace is on the table. Let's go for it,'" Rabi said. "Time will tell, but this is just kind of an indication of how things are being changed in the Middle East for the good."
A message to Americans
Marwan said his main message to the people of the United States is one of peace.
"As a Syrian people, we are peaceful," he said. "We are not warmongering historically."
Marwan blamed the Assad regime for creating what he called "gaps" between the U.S. administration and the Syrian people.
"These gaps need to be filled so that the two people can be friends and we can accomplish things that are beneficial to both nations," he said.
Marwan said the region should learn from past U.S. experience of war in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, saying it "doesn't work."
"War begets war, war begets hate, war begets evil, war begets destruction," he said.
He emphasized that he wanted the American people to know that there is no "animosity" between the two countries.
"The United States is a grand nation, and is at the helm of all nations, for which we have great respect and appreciation for, and has expertise that we want to take advantage of," he said.
Marwan said that the United States and Syria needed each other.
"Any illogical political or military conflict will rob us of all mutual benefits," he said.
"We only hold respect and appreciation" for the U.S., he said.
Governor as activist
Marwan hails from an elite Damascus family and grew up in a wealthy neighborhood in the capital. He said he fled to Idlib in 2011 after being harassed by Assad's security forces for taking part in protests that erupted across Syria as part of the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East. Assad's violent clampdown on the peaceful protests triggered Syria's 13-year civil war.
Marwan graduated with a degree in Islamic law from Idlib University and spent a decade working in management at various businesses. There he said he felt "burning" to change Syria.
"We wanted to free Syria from the security iron fist against the Syrian people," he said. "Security should be felt among all people, not to feel fear."
Marwan said that the old regime raised a wall between it and its people.
"We used to say, 'We feel fear from Syria' — now we say, 'We fear for Syria,'" he said.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Marwan said he was attracted to HTS because they were "organized, had a plan, and a concept to save Syrians."
He called HTS a project without precedent. With time, he argued, the organization developed the maturity to differentiate between who was an enemy and a friend, and what needed to be done to build a country.
Marwan said he had never personally joined al-Qaida and was pleased when HTS cut ties with the terrorist organization.
"Al-Qaida doesn't represent the Syrian people or its aspirations," he said.
The biggest challenges ahead
The main challenge for the government now that the Assad regime is gone is building trust between the people and their governmental institutions, Marwan said.
"People have an old view that institutions are beneficial for the regime and not for them," he said.
One of his big challenges, he said, is to fight corruption. Most civil servants earned a non-living wage, he said, forcing them to depend on side incomes from bribes and gifts.
"To change this, you must raise the quality of life, by increasing wages, providing employment opportunities, enhancing investments and attracting investors," he said.
Marwan said Syria also faces a daunting geopolitical challenge. For this, he blames the Assad regime.
"The previous regime exploited our important geographical location to benefit other countries, like Iran, and Hezbollah's militias," he said.
This generated a huge professional gap for Syrians, Marwan said. Among the 550 employees at the governor's office, he said, only two knew how to use a laptop.
Harnessing the power of those who were part of the former regime is necessary for the stability of the region, he argued, and should be supported by the international community, especially the United States.
Additional reporting by Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv.
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