Along the border between Israel and Syria yesterday.Credit…Atef Safadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
Israeli troops will remain in seized Syrian territory
As the allies and adversaries of Syria reckon with how to respond to its change of government, Israel said that its military would stay in seized Syrian territory until “a new force” was established that met Israeli security demands. Here’s the latest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that the sudden collapse of the Assad regime in Syria had created a vacuum on the border with Israel, and that it “will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities.” The deployment would be temporary, he said, but he did not give any clear timeline for the soldiers’ departure.
The Israeli military has mostly deployed in a 155-square-mile zone that was intended to be a demilitarized area monitored by U.N. peacekeepers. But soldiers have also taken up positions deeper inside Syrian territory, according to Israeli officials. Any deal between Israel and the Islamist rebels who led the offensive in Syria appears distant, given their mutual animosity.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan yesterday before leaving for Turkey, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The changes were “a time of promise but also peril for Syria and its neighbors,” Blinken said.
An American who was imprisoned under the Assad government appears to have been found.
The fall of Syria’s government has reinvigorated a long push for justice over crimes committed by the previous regime, but there is frustration that former President Bashar al-Assad may not stand trial.
Hopes rise for a truce in Gaza
After months of stalled negotiations, cease-fire talks for the Gaza Strip are picking up steam.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met yesterday with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and his top security and policy chiefs. Sullivan said afterward that his goal was to be able to close a deal between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire in Gaza and for the release of hostages held there “this month.”
