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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US President-elect Donald Trump about the situation in civil war-torn Syria and reiterated his peaceful intentions.
“We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” said Netanyahu, according to a statement. Israel's approach will be based on the conditions on the ground. Syria has been an “active enemy state” for ten years and has repeatedly attacked Israel.
The civil war country has also allowed others to expand Israel's territory. Syria also allowed Iran to arm the Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon through its territory. “To ensure that this does not happen again, we have taken a series of intensive measures in recent days,” Netanyahu said.
Since the overthrow of ruler Bashar al-Assad a week ago, Israel has repeatedly bombed strategic military facilities in its neighboring country. It also deployed troops to areas beyond the ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights. They moved into a so-called buffer zone, which is under UN surveillance in accordance with the 1974 ceasefire agreement. Now Israel will expand its settlement in the Golan Heights. Arab countries condemned the plans.
In addition, the conversation with Trump was about efforts to achieve the release of the Israeli hostages who are still in the hands of the Islamist Hamas after the massacre on October 7th last year. “We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that all of our hostages, both living and deceased, return home,” the Russian Prime Minister reiterated. According to Israeli information, around 100 hostages – including corpses – are still being held by Hamas.
