While the United States “backs Syria’s government to capitalise on the power vacuum” left by the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, and “to limit Iran’s resurgence, its support for the new Syrian government is clearly tempered by Israel’s security concerns,” said Andreas Krieg, an associate professor of defence studies at King’s College London.
However, Israel has shown little appetite for compromise with al-Sharaa’s administration, despite several rounds of Azerbaijan-hosted talks arranged by the US since April – most recently last week, just before Israeli warplanes bombed Syrian government forces being deployed in southern Syria to stop clashes between local Druze and Bedouin militias on Sunday.
Aid for Syria is tied to the willingness of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government to reach a peace deal with Israel. Photo: TNS