Gideon Saar: We will not allow Jihadist threat from Syria

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar hosted Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel in Jerusalem this morning (Monday). The discussions between the two focused on regional and global developments.

Minister Sa’ar briefed his counterpart on the situation in the region and spoke about the events in Syria over the weekend:

We are committed to preventing what we saw in Syria this weekend from happening on our border. We are determined to prevent a recurrence of October 7th on any front. We will not allow the formation of a Jihadist threat on our border with Syria.

There are thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives in Syria that want to inflame our border and create another front against Israel. Europe must raise a clear voice regarding the mass murder of Alawite and Christian civilians in Syria.

Foreign Minister Sa'ar has raised the alarm early and often about what he calls the Jihadist nature of the Syrian regime that replaced the dictatorship of Bashar Assad.

While European countries frequently met with Syrian leader and now President Julani and discussed removing existing sanctions on the country, Sa'ar often told his European interlocutors that Syria will be judged by "deeds," not words, and that so far the Julani government has been staffed exclusively by Jihadists who claim to have been reformed, not moderates or representatives of minority groups.

Shortly after the Assad regime fell, Sa'ar went to visit the Syrian front, where IDF forces have taken up positions on the Syrian side of the border in what it calls a "defensive operation." There, Sa'ar said that the IDF intends to remain in Syria until the situation in the country "stabilizes."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have also stressed that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from southern Syria, and have even announced their intention to protect the Druze residing there from any threats presented by the Jolani government.