During a military parade in Damascus on Tuesday, members of the Syrian army were caught on camera chanting a jihadist call to arms against Israel. This alarming event led to a stark warning from an Israeli minister.
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, took to X to declare, “War is inevitable.” He shared a video from Visegrád 24 illustrating Syria’s newly formed army parading in Damascus, under the watchful eye of President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Fox News Digital confirmed the Arabic translation of the soldiers’ chant, which included phrases like “Gaza, Gaza, our rallying cry, Victory and steadfastness, night & day. We rise against you, enemy, we rise. From mountains of fire we make our way. From my blood I forge my ammunition. From your blood, rivers will flow.”
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivered a speech in Damascus on December 8, 2025, marking the first anniversary of Bashar al-Assad’s fall. (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)
Reflecting on the shifting alliances, Barrack noted, “Syria joining the anti-ISIS coalition was once unthinkable.” Recently, the U.S. and Syria have dismantled nine Hezbollah cells and several Islamic State groups. At an event, Barrack emphasized, “After October 7, Israel’s trust is shattered. Hence, we’ve proposed to act as a peacekeeping force, where verification takes precedence over trust.”
Barrack also expressed that Jerusalem views Syria as the “softest play” in the tangled Middle Eastern security landscape. He stated, “Syria has no other options, just as Israel must find a way to avoid constant military conflicts on every front.” He suggested that the Abraham Accords, which have already established diplomatic ties between Israel and moderate Sunni countries like the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, could potentially extend to include Syria.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The Associated Press reported that al-Sharaa said at a conference over the weekend in Qatar that “There are currently negotiations, and the United States is participating and engaged in those negotiations.”
The Syrian president wants Israel to withdraw its forces from Syria and recommit to a 1974 truce agreement.
Israeli forces secure the area around Beit Jann after detaining two suspects and coming under fire in one of the most serious clashes on the Syrian front this year. (IDF)
Israel says it seized the 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria in a preemptive move to prevent militants from moving into the area after Islamist insurgents toppled Assad.
Israeli troops have regularly carried out operations in villages and towns inside and outside the zone, including raids snatching people it says are suspected militants. At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli operation against suspected terrorists last month.
When questioned about his record as an al Qaeda member (the U.S. scrapped its $10 million bounty for al-Sharaa’s arrest for terrorism last year) at the Doha Forum in Qatar, the Syrian president said: “What is the definition of terrorism or a terrorist? Saying that I was a terrorist and judging me as a terrorist is politicized… we saw wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq — all of those that were killed were innocent.”
He added that “Judging people as terrorists needs to be proven. There’s been 25 years of us hearing this word in the world, but there’s a lot of confusion in understanding the word ‘terrorist.’ Terrorists, in my opinion, are those who kill innocent people — children and women — and who use illegitimate means to harm people.” He noted that he fought “honorably.”
Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told Fox News Digital, “The ongoing security situation in Syria is of the utmost complexity. Israel and Syria, under U.S. mediation, are in highly intensive talks to reach a formal security arrangement between the two countries, while the Iranian regime and its proxies are engaging in armed subversion to prevent any possible agreement between the sides. The United States, CIA and military forces are reportedly deeply involved in securing and stabilizing the situation in Syria, which accounts for President Trump’s recent statements to Israel in helping maintain the framework in Syria.”
He added, “It must be emphasized that Iran’s Hezbollah proxy and associated cells and groups are doing everything to torpedo a security arrangement between the al-Sharaa government and the Israeli government. The Iranian regime and associated terror groups tried to assassinate al-Sharaa several times. They are mobilizing terror cells in southern Syria and sending them toward the Israeli border, which is what has triggered ongoing Israeli counterterrorism strikes, just like we saw in Bet Jinn.”
An Israeli army Merkava main battle tank crosses the barbed-wire fence into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights near the U.N. Quneitra checkpoint on March 2, 2025. ( Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited reserve soldiers who were wounded in clashes with Syrian terrorists in Bet Jinn, where he said, “After Oct. 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 attack and other attacks from the border areas.”
He added, “What we expect Syria to do, of course, is to establish a demilitarized buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer zone area, including the approaches to Mount Hermon and the summit of Mount Hermon. We hold these territories to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel, and that is what obligates us. In a good spirit and understanding of these principles, it is also possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles in any case.”
