Sharaa Demands Israeli Withdrawal as Paris Restores Damascus Ties

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa used a Damascus press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron to demand that Israel withdraw from territory it took in southern Syria after Assad's fall and return to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. The two leaders also announced that Damascus and Paris will restore ambassadors after more than a decade and signed or outlined cooperation agreements across infrastructure, health, transport, banking and civil aviation. Macron backed Syrian sovereignty while Sharaa presented the visit as a new phase with France after years of isolation under the Assad war. For Israel, the published accounts describe a Syrian-French diplomatic push and a Syrian demand, not any Israeli undertaking or enforceable border-security arrangement.