Israel Targets Syria and Lebanon in Wave of Airstrikes

[Right_in_Virginia]

Israel Targets Syria and Lebanon in Wave of Airstrikes
NY Times, Jul 15, 2025

A wave of deadly Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces in Syria and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon on Tuesday, escalating what Israel said were efforts to secure its northern border.

The strikes in Syria were a rare attack on forces of the new government, which is led by Islamist former rebels who toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria and deployed forces across a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries.

But it has seldom attacked the government’s military and the two countries recently opened diplomatic contacts to try to lower tensions and conflict between them. The Syrian government condemned the Israeli attack and said it was aimed at undermining the country’s stability. It said a number of its forces had been killed as had civilians.   [...]

In neighboring Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit the eastern Bekaa Valley, a bastion of support for Hezbollah. The attack killed 12 people, most of them Syrians, who often work in agricultural in the area, said the regional governor, Bachir Khodr.

It was the deadliest Israeli strike on Lebanon since a cease-fire was reached in November — ending the most destructive war in Lebanon in decades. [...].

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said the attacks were “a clear message” to both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government that Israel would respond with “maximum force” to any attempt by the group to restore its military capabilities.


More: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/world/middleeast/airstrikes-israel-syria-lebanon.html

[mountaineer]

Oli London
@OliLondonTV
While world leaders like Emmanuel Macron embrace the new Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, his forces are committing massacres against the Druze religious community in Syria.
HTS forces are rounding up Druze men; beating them; ripping off their beards and slaughtering them.
6:45 AM · Jul 16, 2025

https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1945428362966503492

[Right_in_Virginia]

Has anyone bothered to tell Netanyahu why there are borders?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Marco Rubio Reacts to Israel Strikes on Syria
Newsweék, Jul 16, 2025

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is "very concerned" about Israel's strikes on Syria, as the violence escalates.

There are clashes between Syrian government forces and local Druze fighters, a religious minority group Israel is trying to protect. Israel has a Druze population mostly in its north, and many serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The strikes open up another front in Israel's multi-facted campaign against its regional enemies. Israel is taking on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and fought a 12-day war with Iran that ended with a fragile ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"We're going to be working on that issue as we speak," Rubio told reporters. "I just got off the phone with the relevant parties. We're very concerned about it, and hopefully we'll have some updates later today."

Rubio said the U.S. wants the fighting to stop.

The Trump White House had hoped that the new Syrian government would join the Abraham Accords, its effort to improve relations between Israel and Arab states in the Middle East, and lay the foundation for a lasting peace in the region.

More: https://www.newsweek.com/marco-rubio-reacts-israel-strikes-syria-2099726

[Right_in_Virginia]

Israel and Syria agree ceasefire as Israel allows Syrian troops limited access to Sweida
Reuters,  Jul 19, 2025

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-syria-agree-ceasefire-israel-allows-syrian-troops-limited-access-sweida-2025-07-18/

[Right_in_Virginia]

US envoy doubles down on support for Syria’s government and criticizes Israel’s intervention
Associated Press, Jul 21, 2025

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S. envoy doubled down on Washington’s support for Syria’s new government, saying Monday there is “no Plan B” to working with it to unite the country still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Tom Barrack also criticized Israel’s recent intervention in Syria, calling it poorly timed and saying it complicated efforts to stabilize the region.

More:  https://apnews.com/article/syria-us-barrack-israel-druze-ede9f5299c4e59a477736842adcd7de9

[Right_in_Virginia]

"He's a madman": Trump's team frets about Netanyahu after Syria strikes
Axios, Jul 20,  2025

As smoke and debris swirled over the Syrian presidential palace, the chatter in the West Wing grew louder: Benjamin Netanyahu is out of control.

What they're saying: "Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time," one White House official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. "This could undermine what Trump is trying to do."

* A second senior U.S. official also pointed to the shelling of a church in Gaza this week, which led President Trump to call Netanyahu and demand an explanation. "The feeling is that every day there is something new. What the f***?"

* A third U.S. official said there's growing skepticism inside the Trump administration about Netanyahu — a sense that his trigger finger is too itchy and he's too disruptive. "Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave."

* Netanyahu's spokesperson Ziv Agmon did not respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters: Six U.S. officials tell Axios that despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted this week's escalation in Syria on Friday, this week ended with the White House significantly more alarmed about Netanyahu and his regional policies.

* However, Trump has so far refrained from public criticism and it's unclear if he shares his advisers' frustrations. It is not totally clear whether he shares his advisers' recent concerns about Israel's actions in Syria.

Driving the news: On Tuesday, Israel bombed a convoy of Syrian army tanks en route to the city of Suwayda to respond to violent clashes between a Druze militia and armed Bedouin tribesmen, which had killed over 700 people as of Saturday according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

[...]

Friction point: "The bombing in Syria caught the president and the White House by surprise. The president doesn't like turning on the television and seeing bombs dropped in a country he is seeking peace in and made a monumental announcement to help rebuild," a U.S. official said.

* Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Netanyahu and his team to stop on Wednesday.

* Netanyahu agreed to do so in return for the Syrian military withdrawing from Suwayda.

* But by then countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia had conveyed angry messages to the Trump administration about Israel's actions, and several senior U.S. officials had complained directly to Trump about Netanyahu.

[...]

* Another U.S. official said the damage the Israelis had done to their standing at the White House over the past week didn't seem to be breaking through to them. "The Israelis need to get their head out of their asses," the official quipped.


More:  https://www.axios.com/2025/07/20/israel-syria-strikes-trump-netanyahu-divide