TheChek News Flow

Israel launches air strike in Syria as sectarian clashes erupt

Netanyahu says militia set to attack Druze community was targeted near Damascus

Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Israeli forces had struck what he said was an armed group preparing to attack a Druze community near Damascus, amid a wave of sectarian violence in Syria.

The Israeli attack followed several days of clashes between Sunni Muslims and Druze in southern Syria that have reportedly killed more than a dozen people and raised questions about how strong a grip the country’s new rulers have on their armed supporters.

Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said in a joint statement with defence minister Israel Katz that the air strike in Sahnaya, a town south of the Syrian capital, had been a “warning operation” and that “a stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime: Israel expects it to act to prevent harm to the Druze”.

The attack is Israel’s latest intervention in Syria since the regime of Bashar al-Assad was toppled last year by an offensive led by a Sunni Islamist group, which Israel regards as a threat.

Since then, Israel has carried out huge strikes on Syrian military infrastructure, seized a five-decade-old buffer zone, deployed forces into parts of southern Syria and repeatedly threatened a broad offensive if the Syrian state harms the Druze.

The Druze, an ethnically Arab religious minority present in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, are also increasingly viewed by the new Syrian regime’s supporters as proxies for Israel: in addition to threatening to intervene on behalf of the Druze, Israeli officials have denounced the new Syrian government as “a terrorist regime of radical Islam”.

Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, however, has not threatened Israel, and some Druze leaders — who fear being associated with Israeli aggression — say they do not welcome Israeli protection.

The Israeli strike came after Syrian state-aligned armed groups attacked Jaramana and Achrafiet Sahnaya, next to Sahnaya, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The attacks followed the distribution of a voice recording insulting the Muslim prophet Mohammed that was allegedly made by Druze religious leader Sheikh Marwan Kiwan.

Kiwan denied the recording was his, saying in a video that “whoever caused this strife is an evil man who wants to sow discord among all components of the Syrian people”. The interior ministry agreed with him after investigating the accusation, urging calm and promising to deliver justice.

But the damage was done: fighters aligned with the government attacked the two communities and posted videos of themselves firing heavy artillery. Residents said Israeli drones could be heard above the towns.

Hundreds of people have been killed in earlier clashes in Syria between pro-government forces and loyalists of the former regime that escalated into sectarian violence, drawing furious condemnation from the US. Many of those targeted were Alawites, members of a minority sect to which Assad belongs and who dominated the top ranks of the former regime’s security forces.

The interior ministry said it had dispatched members of its General Security forces to suppress this week’s violence, while the health ministry said the attacks were by “rogue elements”. According to death notices posted by local monitoring groups, at least six men and one woman from Jaramana were killed. 

Later on Wednesday, the head of security in the province said an agreement had been struck with Jaramana’s notables, dictating a ceasefire and the handover of dead bodies. He too blamed rogue groups for targeting civilians and security personnel, and said 16 members of the interior ministry’s forces had been killed.

Locals in Achrafiet Sahnaya are accusing the government of complicity in the attacks, according to the local monitoring group, Sweida 24, that covers the Sweida province, a Druze heartland.  

The fighters attacking the cities have been encouraged to “teach the Druze a lesson”, said Malik al-Abdeh, a London-based Syrian analyst.

Abdeh called the anger regarding the slur against Mohammed “just an excuse”, saying the immediate goal was to disarm Druze militias that represent a security threat to the government’s grip on power. The new administration has sought to bring the Druze, as well as Sunni armed factions, into the fold and integrate their fighters under the banner of a new army. But the Druze, as well as other minority factions, have so far resisted such efforts.

Sharaa is the former leader of the hardline Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led an offensive in December that unseated then-president Assad and ended his family’s five decades of brutal rule.

Western governments have emphasised that inclusion of minorities in governance is a prerequisite to the removal of sanctions, a step that is likely to be essential to the success of Sharaa’s plans to restore Syria’s devastated economy.

Agreement in doubt as Ukrainian first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko flies to Washington

The US and Ukraine ran into last-minute hurdles on Wednesday as they were on the verge of signing a framework minerals deal, when a dispute over what had been agreed in marathon overnight negotiations cast doubt on the deal being finalised.

The deal they had been due to sign, which was seen by the Financial Times, stated that the US and Ukraine, through the development of Kyiv’s natural resources and the creation of a joint investment fund, would “seek to create the conditions necessary to . . . increase investment in mining, energy and related technology in Ukraine”.

It came after Kyiv secured a significant concession from the Trump administration that only future military aid would count as the US contribution to the deal.

Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, has flown to Washington to sign the deal with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, said three Ukrainian officials.

But problems arose as Svyrydenko’s plane headed to Washington, and Bessent’s team told her she should “be ready to sign all agreements, or go back home”, said three people familiar with the matter. 

The Americans want the Ukrainians to sign both the framework deal and a detailed fund agreement that would complete the full minerals deal on Wednesday, said two Ukrainian officials.

One person familiar with the US’s thinking said on Wednesday that negotiations had not concluded because Ukraine had sought to revisit terms agreed at the weekend.

The person said senior US officials were concerned that this would reduce transparency and accountability, but the deal could still be signed as early as Wednesday if Ukraine returned to the original terms.

“President Trump has said that the time to get this done is now, and we are moving with all deliberate speed towards this end. The United States is committed to the quick conclusion of this vital agreement, and to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine,” a US Treasury spokesperson said.

The Ukrainians said that the US account was inaccurate, and that they could not sign both documents on Wednesday because the framework deal must be ratified by their country’s parliament before the fund agreement can be signed. 

One Ukrainian official involved in talks expressed frustration with the US, saying they worried that “they won’t be happy with anything”.

“We stand ready to sign the framework deal today,” the official said, but added that the chances were little better than “50-50”.

As the jockeying continued on Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on national TV that he hoped the framework deal would be signed within “the next 24 hours”.

“As soon as all the final details are worked out, which I hope will happen within the next 24 hours, the agreement will be signed and we will take the first step,” he said.

While the framework deal does not explicitly offer US security guarantees for Ukraine, it does call the agreement “an expression of a broader, long-term strategic alignment . . . and a tangible demonstration of the United States of America’s support for Ukraine’s security, prosperity, reconstruction and integration into global economic frameworks”.

“We think that the teams have done good work and the deal is much better for both countries,” said one of the Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter.

The development would mark a major step forward in the rocky relationship between Washington and Kyiv after a signing ceremony for an earlier version of the deal was cancelled in February following a public argument in the Oval Office between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After that clash, Trump had insisted that billions of dollars in past US military assistance be treated as loans to be repaid through the agreement, a proposal Zelenskyy rejected. Trump’s team of negotiators also sent a new proposal stating that only past military aid to Kyiv would count as the US contribution to the deal.

On Sunday, Shmyhal confirmed that this line had been removed after Ukraine had clearly defined its “red lines”.

He spoke from Washington following ​an “important meeting” with Bessent​ to hammer out the final details.

In the weeks since the Oval Office meeting that derailed talks — and after Kyiv worked with a US law firm to aid in negotiations with the Trump administration — the talks became more “constructive”, said the Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv and Washington signed a memorandum of intent ​earlier this month, pledging to advance ​an agreement on ​the investment fund part of the deal covering Ukraine’s natural resources and energy assets.

The deal specifies that after it takes effect, any new US military assistance “including the donation of weapons systems, ammunition, technology or training” will be considered a capital contribution by the US.

Trump has expressed growing impatience over stalled ceasefire talks. He has expressed doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to engage seriously on a peace framework he had hoped to broker within his first 100 days in office.

After meeting Zelenskyy in the Vatican at the weekend, Trump said he “was very disappointed that missiles were [launched] by Russia . . . I want [Putin] to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal”.