WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump warned Israel on Monday against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership, days after a deadly operation by Israeli forces in the south of the country.
“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said he was “very satisfied” with Syria’s performance under President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who made a historic visit to the White House in November.
Trump has been pushing for a security pact between Israel and Syria since Sharaa’s coalition overthrew longtime ruler Bashar Assad a year ago.
But tensions have risen over hundreds of strikes by Israel on Syria. In the deadliest so far, Israeli forces killed 13 people on Friday in an operation in southern Syria, saying they targeted an extremist group.
Trump said Sharaa “is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together.”
He added that the United States was “doing everything within our power to make sure the Government of Syria continues to do what was intended” to rebuild the war-torn country.
Good relations between Syria and Israel would add to his efforts for a wider Middle East peace following the fragile Gaza ceasefire in October, added Trump.
Trump warns Israel not to ‘interfere’ in Syria
https://arab.news/4e7g3
Trump warns Israel not to ‘interfere’ in Syria
- Trump said he was “very satisfied” with Syria’s performance under President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who made a historic visit to the White House in November
A man detonates explosive belt during arrest attempt in Iraq, injuring 2 security members
- The raid was being conducted in the Al-Khaseem area in Qaim district that borders Syria
- No members of the security forces were killed
BAGHDAD: A man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up Friday while a security force was trying to arrest him in western Iraq near the Syrian border, killing himself and wounding two security members, an Iraqi security official said.
The raid was being conducted in the Al-Khaseem area in Qaim district that borders Syria, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The official added that “preliminary information” confirms that no members of the security forces were killed, while two personnel were injured and transferred for medical treatment.
Iraq’s National Security Agency said in a statement that its members besieged a hideout of a Daesh group security official and two of his bodyguards. One bodyguard ignited his explosives belt, killing him. It gave no further details.
Daesh once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate in 2014. The extremist group was defeated on the battlefield in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019 but its sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries.
In December, two US service members and an American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blamed on Daesh. The US carried out strikes on Syria days later in retaliation.
US and Iraqi authorities in January began transferring hundreds of the nearly 9,000 Daesh members held in jails run by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria to Iraq, where Iraqi authorities plan to prosecute them.
