A group of Syrian army soldiers were documented chanting a jihadist declaration of war against Israel during a military parade in Damascus on Tuesday, prompting a Jewish state minister to issue a chilling prediction.
Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, posted on X“War is inevitable.” Chikli posted a video from Visegrád 24 showing Syria’s new army marching through Damascus. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa attended the military parade.
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Military personnel perform during a military parade as Syrians commemorate the first anniversary of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 8, 2025. (Khalil Ashawi/Retuers)
The Trump administration is pushing for a security deal between Syria and Israel that would stabilize the heart of the Middle East. Al-Sharaa met with Trump at the White House last month.
Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, said at a Jerusalem Post conference in Washington DC on Wednesday that Damascus is not interested in aggression against Israel, the newspaper reported.
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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers a speech on the first anniversary of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, on December 8, 2025. (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)
“Syria’s entry into the anti-ISIS coalition was unthinkable not so long ago.” Barrack said the US and Syria have eliminated nine Hezbollah cells and several Islamic State cells in recent weeks. “After October 7, Israel no longer trusts anyone,” he said at the event, adding: “That’s why we offered to serve as a peacekeeping force. Verification replaces trust.”
Barrack claimed that Jerusalem sees Syria as “the softest play” in the complex security situation in the Middle East. “Syria has no alternative path,” he said. “And neither should Israel, if it wants to avoid continued military confrontation at every border.” He said the Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic ties between the moderate Sunni states of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Israel, could be extended to Syria.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during a press conference following his meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, August 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The Associated Press reported that al-Sharaa said at a conference in Qatar last weekend: “There are negotiations going on right now, and the United States is participating and involved in those negotiations.”
The Syrian president wants Israel to withdraw its troops from Syria and recommit to a 1974 ceasefire.
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Israeli forces secure the area around Beit Jann after detaining two suspects and coming under fire in one of the worst clashes on the Syrian front this year. (IDF) (IDF)
Israel says it has seized the 400 square kilometers (155 square miles). demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria in a pre-emptive move to prevent militants from entering the area after Islamist insurgents overthrew Assad.
Israeli forces have carried out regular operations in towns and cities inside and outside the zone, including raids kidnapping people suspected of being militants. At least 13 people were killed during an Israeli operation against suspected terrorists last month.
When asked about his record as a member of Al Qaeda (the US canceled the $10 million bounty for the arrest of al-Sharaa for terrorism last year) at the Doha Forum in Qatar, the Syrian president said: “What is the definition of terrorism or a terrorist? Saying I was a terrorist and condemning me as a terrorist is politicized… we have seen wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq – all those who died were innocent.”
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He added: “The assessment of people as terrorists must be proven. We have been hearing this word in the world for 25 years, but there is a lot of confusion about understanding the word ‘terrorist’. Terrorists, in my opinion, are those who kill innocent people – children and women – and who use unlawful means to harm people.” He noted that he fought “honorably.”
He added: “It must be emphasized that the Iranian Hezbollah proxy and associated cells and groups are doing everything they can to torpedo a security arrangement between the al-Sharaa government and the Israeli government. The Iranian regime and its associated terrorist groups have attempted to assassinate al-Sharaa several times. They are mobilizing terror cells in southern Syria and sending them to the Israeli border, which has caused the continued Israeli counter-terrorism attacks, just as we have seen in Bet Jinn.”
An Israeli Army Merkava main battle tank crosses the barbed wire fence into the UN-guarded buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights near the UN Quneitra checkpoint on March 2, 2025. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited reserve soldiers injured in clashes with Syrian terrorists in Bet Jinn, where he said: “After October 7, we are determined to defend our communities on our borders, including the northern border, and to prevent the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile actions against us, to protect our Druze allies and to ensure that the State of Israel is safe from ground attacks and other attacks from the border areas.”
He added: “What we expect from Syria, of course, is to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer zone area, including the access to Mount Hermon and the peak of Mount Hermon. We hold these areas to guarantee the security of the citizens of Israel, and that is what obligates us. In a good spirit and with an understanding of these principles, it is also possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians, but in any case we will stick to our principles.”
