Smoke billows after Israeli strikes near the Syrian army headquarters and Defense Ministry in Damascus, July 16, 2025. (Credit: Rami al-Sayed/AFP)
BEIRUT — Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, said that "Israel will be at war with Syria sooner or later," adding that Damascus and Ankara are a "far more troubling issue than Iran," the Israeli army's radio station reported on Thursday. Turkey maintains close ties with Syria's current authorities.
It is not the first time that Chikli, a member of the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers comments against Syrian authorities led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa. In November 2025, he was quoted as saying: "We are no longer facing a terrorist group, but a new enemy state, with an army, an economy, and strategic alliances."
Chikli's comments come days after the U.S. and Iran reached a deal to end the regional war, which started in late-February.
The Israeli army has used the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime — overthrown on Dec. 8 by a coalition of Islamist rebels — as a pretext to occupy part of Syrian territory and destroy a significant portion of the country's military equipment, despite the change in regime.
Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies now demand the demilitarization of the entire Syrian territory from the south of Damascus to the demarcation line established after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Last year, Israel bombed the area near the presidential palace in Damascus, claiming it was protecting the Druze community after deadly clashes between Druze fighters and armed groups linked to the Sunni power of President Sharaa.
