US President Donald Trump on Monday said Israel should maintain dialogue with Syria and refrain from interfering in the country, days after a deadly military operation on the border further strained relations between the neighbouring nations.
Israeli forces on Friday said they killed 13 people in southern Syria in an operation reportedly targeting the Jamaa Islamiya group. Local officials said women and children were among the dead.
In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump appeared to warn Israel against interfering in Syria. “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,” Mr Trump wrote.
He added that the US was dedicated to seeing Syria flourish, crediting the recent easing of “strong and biting” sanctions on Damascus. “We are doing everything within our power to make sure the government of Syria continues to do what was intended, which is substantial, in order to build a true and prosperous country,” he wrote.
Axios later reported that the Trump administration was concerned about Israeli actions in Syria. “We are trying to tell Bibi he has to stop this because if it continues he will self-destruct,” a senior US official told the outlet, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Syria doesn’t want problems with Israel. This isn’t Lebanon,” another senior US official said. “But Bibi is seeing ghosts everywhere.”
Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, said he had spoken to Mr Trump on Monday and discussed disarming Hamas in Gaza. He said the US President invited him to visit the White House “in the near future”.
Mr Trump said Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara was working “diligently” to ensure that Syria and Israel “have a long and prosperous relationship together”.
His comments come weeks after Mr Trump hosted Mr Al Shara at the White House in a breakthrough for US-Syria relations nearly a year after the downfall of the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad.
Friday’s attack on the Syrian village of Beit Jinn was the deadliest by Israel since it occupied a part of southern Syria a year ago. Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria since.
Washington now sees Mr Al Shara, who was once on the US’s most wanted list, as a critical partner in its fight against ISIS in the Middle East.
The Trump administration has also been working on a security agreement between Israel and Syria. Following the toppling of the Assad regime last December, Israel posted troops to parts of the separation zone in the occupied Golan Heights for the first time since the 1974.
The breakthrough in US-Syrian diplomatic relations began in May, during Mr Trump’s visit to the Gulf, which included a meeting with Mr Al Shara in Saudi Arabia.