Khaberni - Two senior U.S. officials have expressed their concern that repeated Israeli raids in Syria threaten to destabilize the country and undermine hopes of reaching a security agreement between Tel Aviv and Damascus, according to Axios reported yesterday on Monday.
One official said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname: "We are trying to convince Bibi to stop this because if it continues, he will destroy himself."
He continued that Netanyahu’s continuation of his current policies towards Syria means he will "miss a huge diplomatic opportunity and turn the new Syrian government into an enemy."
One of the officials noted that "Syria is not like Lebanon," saying, "Syria does not want trouble with Israel. This is not Lebanon. But Netanyahu sees ghosts everywhere."
The American officials told Axios that Netanyahu's actions have partially sabotaged the work on a security agreement between Syria and Israel, a step Washington hopes will be the first towards Damascus joining the Abraham Accords later, according to the website.
American anger escalated following an Israeli ground operation in Beit Jin in rural Damascus last Friday, which resulted in the deaths of about 13 Syrian civilians in airstrikes after Israeli soldiers were surrounded, and six were injured. Israel said it carried out the operation to arrest members of the "Islamic Group" active in Lebanon.
The U.S. officials also stated their belief that Netanyahu is interfering in Syria in ways that are not helpful at all, especially after he ordered military operations across the border several times, including in recent days.
U.S. officials also told Axios that the White House did not receive prior notice of the Israeli operation in Beit Jin, and the Israelis did not warn Syria through military channels as they had done in previous cases.
U.S. Warning
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his warning to the Israeli government against meddling in Syrian affairs and called for refraining from any actions that could obstruct the country's political transition process.
Trump said in a post on "Truth Social" that his administration is "very satisfied" with the performance of the new Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Shar', who has led the country since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.
He added that it is very important for Israel to maintain a strong and real dialogue with Syria, and that nothing should happen that might interfere with Syria's development into a prosperous state.
Trump also spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister by phone on Monday evening, in the context of Washington's efforts to ease tensions between Tel Aviv and Damascus, according to Israeli media.
In this context, researcher on Israeli affairs Imad Abu Awad told Al Jazeera Net that Trump and Netanyahu "agree on the essence of the policy towards Syria, but they differ in the method of its application," explaining that both parties share the necessity of preserving Israel's security and maintaining its military presence in parts of the buffer zones it recently controlled, in his description.
He clarified that Trump is seeking to achieve these goals through a security agreement presented as a political achievement, while Netanyahu relies on force and military pressure to achieve the same goals and possibly expand them later.
This is not the first time that criticisms from the American administration of Israeli interventions in Syria have escalated.
After the Israeli strikes that targeted the capital Damascus in June, a White House official told Axios: "Netanyahu is acting crazy. He's bombing everything all the time. This could undermine what Trump is trying to do."
