Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke today (Wednesday) with Defense Secretary Austin, where he mentioned that there is now a chance for a deal which will free all the hostages, including those with American citizenship.
Minister Katz also explained that Israel's actions in Syria, especially the takeover of the Syrian side of the border with IDF ground forces, was informed by the government's determination that Syria must not pose a threat to Israel, even after Assad's fall.
The same is true of Israel's large scale air-strikes in Syria, which are meant to deny anyone strategic weapons which may be used against Israel.
Katz also said that Israel's zero-tolerance approach to violations of the ceasefire with Hezbollah will continue, an extension of the insistence of the government that there will be no continuation of the policy of tolerating "drizzles" of rockets as before October 7.
Katz and Austin agreed regarding the danger presented by Iran and its proxies and said they would work together to prevent Iranian arms smuggling to Lebanon via Syria.
