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Hello and welcome to News Hour coming to live from London from the BBC World Service.

I'm Sean Lay. It's good to have your company.

Over the last couple of days, we've been reporting events at the annual UN General Assembly in New York.

It's been notable thus far for the policy shift made by a number of Israel's allies in recognizing a Palestinian state, albeit a theoretical one,

and for the speech by the US President Donald Trump, which broke plenty of diplomatic conventions.

Perhaps the most remarkable UN debut is that one made on Wednesday afternoon by Ahmed Al-Sharaharah,

the Syrian jihadi leader who brought an end to the House of Assad,

the hereditary autocracy that had ruled Syria since the 1960s.

Twenty years ago, Al-Shara was a devotee of al-Qaeda detained in an Iraqi prison.

As a leader of Islamist militants, the US government at one point put a bounty of $10 million on his head.

Last December, Al-Shara's fighters marched on Damascus as Bashar al-Assad fled and his regime melted away.

Since then, he's met President Trump

and is negotiating with Israel,

which for decades regarded Syria as a pariah.

This afternoon, Mr. Al-Shara became the first Syrian leader

to address the United Nations since 1967.

I come to you from Damascus,

a capital of history and the cradle of civilizations, a beautiful

country that has taught the world the meaning of civilization and the value of human beings

and coexistence to be a beacon for the world.

Syria has transformed from an exporter of crisis to an opportunity for peace for Syria and the region.

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