KOENIG

(photo: AFP)

The Biden administration said Tuesday it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the US would work with groups in Syria and regional partners to ensure that the transition from President Bashar Assad’s deposed government runs smoothly. He was not specific about which groups the US would work with, but the State Department has not ruled out talks with the main Syrian rebel group despite its designation as a terrorist organization.

The qualified pledge of support for a post-Assad Syria comes as the Biden administration continues to look to target Islamic State fighters to prevent the group from reemerging as an international threat and maintains support for Israel as its forces conduct their own operations inside Syria.

(photo: AFP)

Russia convinced former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad that he would lose the struggle against rebel organizations in his country, and offered him and his family refuge and help in escaping, US media reports said on Wednesday.

According to reports, Russian intelligence agents organized the escape, and flew Assad via an air base in Syria before turning off the plane's transmitter to avoid tracking.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov commented on the reports, saying that Moscow had transferred Assad to their country "in the most secure manner."

Massad Boulos, President-elect Donald Trump’s advisor on Middle Eastern and Arab affairs, said that the United States would have to discuss laying out a “roadmap” to Palestinian statehood if it hopes to establish relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials have long made it known that they would not establish ties with Israel absent progress toward a Palestinian state. But for Boulos — a Lebanese-American billionaire and the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany — to emphasize the point is significant because other Trump appointees, in addition to Trump himself, are seen as close to the Israeli right, which rejects Palestinian statehood.

“I think the issue of a roadmap that would lead to a Palestinian state is an important part of the discussions between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” Boulos said in a wide-ranging interview last week with Le Point, a French magazine. “It is certainly a very important point.”

Two months ago, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his “blessing and curse” speech at the U.N.—framing the curse as Iran’s evil axis and the blessing as the Abraham Accords, which could expand further—he mainly had two countries in mind: Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

These could have been two strategic, game-changing agreements that would have dealt a significant blow to Iran’s plans of imposing a siege and an all-Islamic war against Israel. But the Hamas war temporarily halted both.

Now, Trump and his team are putting these advanced drafts back on the table, shaking off the dust and actively seeking to push them forward.

Israeli police at the border fence with Syria, near the northern Israeli town of Majdal Shams, on Dec. 9, 2024. (photo: Ayal Margolin, Flash90)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during a meeting at the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that if the new Syrian jihadist regime befriends Iran, Israel will take decisive action against it.

“If this regime allows Iran to regain its foothold in Syria—or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah—or attacks us, we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price from it,” he said.

Israel has no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, the prime minister said, but would take action it deemed necessary for its security.

In this context, he said he had authorized the Israeli Air Force to bomb “strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists.”

“The IDF announced that it destroyed Syria’s navy,” the announcer of the KAN radio news bulletin said matter-of-factly at 11:00 am on Tuesday. This astounding military achievement was relegated to a secondary headline. It was just one more story in a news cycle overflowing with drama.

Israeli naval missile ships destroyed the Syrian military [naval] fleet in an operation last night as part of a broad campaign to eliminate strategic threats to the country, Defense Minister Israel Katz says during his visit to a Navy base in Haifa.

In a statement, he says Israeli forces are establishing themselves in the buffer zone between Syria and the Golan Heights and says he has ordered a “sterile defensive zone” to be created in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence, to prevent any terrorist threat to Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces has conducted 300 strikes in Syria since Sunday’s ouster of Bashar Assad, Israeli media reported on Tuesday, marking the heaviest air campaign in the country since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Israel’s Ynet news outlet cited Western intelligence sources late Monday night as confirming the figure, saying that the aerial assault is mainly targeting air force bases, including entire squadrons of fighter jets.

It is believed that the Syrian Air Force could be destroyed in its entirety “within a few days,” Ynet noted, which would substantially reduce the threat posed to the Jewish state by the incoming Syrian government.

A new chapter has opened in the Middle East with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday at a press conference in Jerusalem — his first in 99 days.

Speaking to reporters, he claimed Israel was defeating its enemies “step by step” in a “war of existence that was imposed upon us,” and cited Assad’s Syria as a “central element of Iran’s axis of evil.”

On Sunday morning, Syrian rebels took control of Damascus after a two-week lightning offensive, ending 13 years of civil war against the Syrian government and over 50 years of Assad family rule.

Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to create a secure area free of “heavy strategic weapons and terror infrastructure” beyond the buffer zone with Syria, the Defense Ministry announced Monday.

Katz said he had instructed the IDF to establish full control over the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, which was established by the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem and ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The defense minister also ordered the continued destruction of strategic weapons that were previously held by the regime and Iranian-backed militias to prevent their falling into the hands of terrorist forces. Among these weapons are “surface-to-air missiles, air defense systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets and coast-to-sea missiles,” according to the ministry.

The U.S. military conducted a punishing series of airstrikes against the Islamic State group on Dec. 8, following the sudden demise of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers, F-15E Strike Eagles, and A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft conducted dozens of airstrikes against Islamic State leaders, fighters, and camps in central Syria, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced. The aircraft dropped about 140 munitions on more than 75 targets belonging to the militant group, a senior administration official told reporters.

Netanyahu labels Assad's fall a 'milestone' for Israel: "The Assad regime is a central link in Iran's axis of evil - this regime has fallen."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood along the Syrian border with Israel on Sunday afternoon, hailing the end of Syria's Bashar al-Assad's 14-year rule and claiming Israel's "blows inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah" had a direct impact on the Syrian revolution.

On a visit to the area near the border with Syria, the prime minister said he had ordered Israeli forces to seize areas in the buffer zone to ensure Israel's security and said: "We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."

Amid the chaos, the Israeli Air Force has carried out numerous strikes in Syria today, taking out weaponry Israel fears could fall into the hands of hostile forces.

According to reports in Syria, strikes earlier today targeted ammunition and weapons depots at the Khalkhalah airbase in Suwayda, several sites in the Daraa Governorate, and the Mezzeh airbase in Damascus.

Additional strikes were reported Sunday afternoon at the Mezzeh airbase, a major security complex in the Kafr Sousa suburb of the capital, a branch of the Scientific Studies and Research Center in Damascus, and a central square in the capital that includes intelligence and customs headquarters.

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who used chemical weapons multiple times on his population, has fled Syria after rebels stormed the capital city of Damascus, according to Reuters.

Assad, who was trained as an eye doctor in the United Kingdom before succeeding his father, and his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, fled with their three children, according to Syrian television reports. It was not known where they were headed.

A video statement from a group of men on Syrian state TV said that Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners have been set free. 

The man who read a statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of "the free Syrian state."

Following a situational assessment on the topic of the war in Syria, the IDF will call up additional soldiers for defensive missions in the Golan Heights, adjacent to the Israel-Syria border, the military announced on both Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, the military completed a General Staff exercise in the northern Jordan Valley and the southern Golan Heights.

Iran’s increase in the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity is “extremely serious,” unjustified for civilian purposes, and contradicts Tehran’s statements regarding credible nuclear negotiations, a Western diplomatic source was quoted by Reuters as saying on Saturday.

"These measures have no credible civilian justification and could, on the contrary, directly fuel a military nuclear program if Iran were to take the decision," the unnamed official said. "They are in contradiction with Iran’s declarations on its willingness to return to credible negotiations." 

The International Atomic Energy Agency later confirmed in a confidential report to member states that Iran was speeding up uranium enrichment, a process that refines the raw material so that it can be used as fuel in civil nuclear power generation or, potentially, nuclear weapons. 

Due to the ongoing internal conflict in Syria, the IDF has announced it is reinforcing aerial and ground forces in the Golan Heights, which borders Syria.

This follows a situational assessment carried out on Thursday and Friday by the IDF General Staff and Northern Command.

IDF troops are deployed along the border and the IDF is monitoring developments.

It added in its statement on Friday afternoon that the army is prepared for all scenarios, both offensive and defensive.

US President Donald Trump meets with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 9, 2019, in Washington. (photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

At the behest of officials from US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, Qatar summoned Hamas leaders back to Doha this week in order to revive hostage negotiations, two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Friday

Qatar booted the Hamas leaders in late October, with Biden administration officials telling The Times of Israel that they requested Doha order their expulsion due to the terror group’s months-long refusal to constructively engage in negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Qatar maintains that the decision to oust Hamas officials was one it made on its own, framing the move as part of a decision to temporarily halt its mediation efforts, which it vowed to only resume when both sides demonstrate willingness to negotiate in good faith.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy traveled to Qatar and Israel to kick-start efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before Trump takes office on January 20, a source told The Times of Israel, confirming that Doha has quietly resumed its role as a mediator in the talks.

Steve Witkoff, the incoming envoy, met separately in late November with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the source said.

Residents along the Northern California coast were rattled on Thursday by an earthquake off the coast south of Eureka. The U.S. Geological Survey determined that the quake had a magnitude of 7.0.

Officials with the U.S.G.S. said it was too early to assess the scale of the damage from the quake, which was felt more than 200 miles to the south in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in the Sacramento Valley to the east. But despite the strength of the quake, which had an epicenter roughly 30 miles offshore and well away from densely populated areas, there were no immediate reports of major damage.

The U.S. Treasury Department announcedsanctions on Tuesday against 35 vessels and companies that it says are part of a “shadow fleet” that illegally delivers Iranian oil to other countries, destabilizing the region.

“Iran continues to funnel revenues from its petroleum trade toward the development of its nuclear program, proliferation of its ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology and sponsorship of its regional terrorist proxies, risking further destabilizing the region,” said Bradley Smith, acting U.S. under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department.

The U.S. government imposed sanctions on 21 ships, which it said “have collectively shipped tens of millions of barrels of oil for Iran.” It also sanctioned 14 companies that own or manage the vessels.

Hezbollah has been significantly degraded militarily by Israel since it went to war against the Jewish state on October 8, 2023, and has lost more than half its weapons stockpiles, but the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group will likely try to rebuild its arms and forces and pose a long-term threat to Israel, the US and its regional allies, four sources briefed on updated US intelligence told Reuters Wednesday.

The evaluation came as Israel continued to hit what it said were Hezbollah forces violating a ceasefire that came into effect last week, while Washington said that the deal it helped broker was holding up.

Israel showed the "power" of the F-35 stealth fighter jet during its late October retaliatory strikes against Iran, Britain's top military officer said on Wednesday.

Adm. Tony Radakin, the UK's chief of defense staff, disclosed that Israel used its F-35s to carry out the widespread October 26 strikes against military sites across Iran, including air-defense systems and missile-manufacturing facilities.

It appeared to mark the first confirmation from a Western government that Israel had used its fifth-generation aircraft in the operation, which came in response to a massive Iranian missile attack at the start of the month. It was reported at the time that Israel flew its F-35s and fired air-launched ballistic missiles.

[Biden-appointed] Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was slammed on Wednesday after she compared a Tennessee law banning gender transitions for minors to past laws banning interracial marriage.

Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly speaks during the General Assembly 39th plenary meeting at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on on Nov. 28, 2023. (photo: Michael M. Santiago, Getty Images)

An Israeli diplomat accused the United Nations of fixation on anti-Israel resolutions brought by the world’s worst human-rights abusers just hours before the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution approving a high-level conference in support of the two-state solution.

On Tuesday, the General Assembly voted by a 157-8 margin, with seven abstentions, in favor of holding a conference in June 2025 aimed at adopting “an action-oriented outcome document” to “urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the implementation of a Palestinian state.

Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the United States voted no.

Earlier this week, two days after Hamas released a propaganda video showing American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander pleading with Donald Trump to secure his release, the American president-elect typed out a message that was sure to make the terror group and its backers in Iran take notice.

“Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire world, in the Middle East – but it’s all talk and no action!” Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform, without mentioning Israel or the Palestinian terror group by name.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” he continued.

We don’t know yet what impact President-elect Donald Trump’s bombshell statement about the fate of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas will be. But in one post on his Truth Social site, he neatly summarized what has been lacking in terms of American leadership when it comes to the fight against Iranian-funded Islamist terrorism for the past four years.

Trump’s post—with its characteristic bombastic tone and use of capital letters for emphasis—was very different from the public statements of the Biden administration foreign-policy team in recent months on the same topic or that of any other world leader. The United States has condemned Hamas, but in the last year has been primarily focused on pressuring Israel to give up its campaign to eliminate the terrorists and agree to a ceasefire with only a partial release of the hostages. That would effectively hand the perpetrators an undeserved victory for the massacre of 1,200 men, women and children in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.