Syria’s new president gives first U.S. interview

CBS’s 60 Minutes aired Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa’s first U.S. television interview since rebels toppled Bashar al‑Assad and appointed him in January, with al‑Sharaa touring war‑ruined Jobar near Damascus and vowing reconstruction for a country where ~13 million are displaced and over 500,000 were killed. He recounted the November 2024 assault on Aleppo, the 11‑day collapse of the Assad regime as Assad fled to Moscow, and blamed Assad, Russia and Iran for targeting civilian areas, as the interview framed Syria’s future alongside a U.S.-brokered Israel–Hamas ceasefire and a weakened Hezbollah.