For the first time in nearly six decades, a Syrian president steps up to speak at the UN

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Turning the page on decades of distance, Syria’s president addressed the U.N. General Assembly, marking the first time any president from his country has done so in almost 60 years.

Ahmad al-Sharaa said Wednesday that Syria is returning to the international community after six decades of dictatorship that killed 1 million people and tortured hundreds of thousands.

“Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world,” he told the assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders.

Al-Sharaa became the first Syrian head of state to speak at the United Nations since Noureddine Attasi gave a speech in 1967 shortly after the Arab-Israeli war, during which Damascus lost control of the Golan Heights that Israel later annexed in 1981.

The Assad family dynasty’s autocratic, repressive 50-year rule in Syria abruptly collapsed in December, when then-President Bashar Assad was ousted in a lightning insurgent offensive led by al-Sharaa. Assad’s fall ended nearly 14 years of civil war.

Al-Sharaa blasted Israel in his speech, saying that it did not stop its threats to his country since the fall of President Bashar Assad in December adding that its policies “contradict with the international community’s support to Syria and its people” in what endangers the region and could make enter conflicts that no one know how they could end.

Negotiations have been underway for a security deal that al-Sharaa has said he hopes will bring about a withdrawal of Israeli forces and return to a 1974 disengagement agreement. While al-Sharaa said last week that a deal could be reached in a matter of days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in remarks Sunday appeared to downplay the odds of a breakthrough.

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Mroue reported from Beirut.