America has guaranteed safety to plenty of nations. It gets us involved in far more conflicts than we need to be involved in.
And now a U.S. ally sounded the alarm now that war is ‘inevitable.’
Syrian Troops’ Anti-Israel Chants Spark Alarm Amid U.S.-Backed Peace Push
As Syria marked the first anniversary of Bashar al-Assad’s ouster with a grand military parade in Damascus on Tuesday, footage emerged of soldiers chanting fiery anti-Israel slogans—prompting an Israeli minister to declare that confrontation is unavoidable, even as the Trump administration advances a landmark security pact to defuse regional tensions.
The parade, attended by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, featured troops marching through the capital’s Umayyad Square while voicing a jihadi-style vow of resistance: “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.”
The chants, verified independently by Fox News Digital from the Arabic audio, echoed Hamas rallying cries from Gaza parades earlier in the year, fueling concerns over lingering extremist influences in Syria’s reformed military.
Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, reacted swiftly on X, embedding the Visegrád 24 video and stating bluntly: “War is inevitable.”
In a follow-up to Fox News Digital, Chikli tied the rhetoric to broader instability, citing “harrowing testimonies” from Syria’s Druze community in Sweida about atrocities reminiscent of ISIS: “A regime that k*lls like ISIS, r*pes like ISIS, and destroys like ISIS everything that is not itself—it is ISIS, even if it wears a suit and plays basketball.”
Trump Diplomacy Takes Center Stage: From Sanctions Relief to Anti-ISIS Wins
Yet amid the parade’s provocative optics, the Trump administration remains steadfast in its high-stakes engagement with Damascus, viewing al-Sharaa—a former al-Qaeda affiliate whose $10 million U.S. bounty was lifted last year—as a pragmatic partner for Middle East stabilization. Just last month, al-Sharaa made history with the first-ever White House visit by a Syrian president, where President Trump pledged full support for Syria’s reconstruction and counterterrorism efforts, extending a 180-day sanctions waiver under the Caesar Act to unlock billions in aid and investment.
At a Jerusalem Post conference in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack—Trump’s longtime advisor and a key architect of the outreach—pushed back on aggression fears, insisting Damascus seeks no quarrel with Israel. “Syria joining the anti-ISIS coalition was unthinkable not long ago,” Barrack noted, highlighting recent joint operations that dismantled nine Hezbollah cells and several ISIS holdouts in weeks. He positioned the U.S. as a bridge: “After Oct. 7, Israel doesn’t trust anyone… That’s why we’ve offered to serve as a peacekeeping force. Verification replaces trust.”
Barrack framed Syria as Israel’s “softest play” for border security, arguing both nations lack viable alternatives to de-escalation: “Syria has no alternative path… And neither does Israel, if it wants to avoid perpetual military confrontation on every border.”
He floated expanding the Abraham Accords—which normalized ties between Israel and moderate Sunni states like the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco—to include Syria, crediting Trump’s bold sanctions relief and diplomatic reset for creating this opening.
Al-Sharaa himself confirmed U.S. involvement in weekend talks in Qatar, where he pressed for Israel’s withdrawal from a 400-square-kilometer demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria—seized by Israeli forces post-Assad to block militant incursions.
Damascus seeks recommitment to the 1974 truce, while Israel justifies ongoing raids— including one last month that k*lled 13 suspected terrorists—as essential defenses.
Al-Sharaa’s Past Under Scrutiny, But Trump Focuses on Forward Momentum
Al-Sharaa’s jihadist history drew fresh questions at the Doha Forum, where he defended his record:
“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 k*lled were innocent.” He insisted true terrorists target innocents with illegitimate means, claiming he fought “honorably” and that judgments require proof amid global confusion over the label.
Security analyst Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs acknowledged the “utmost complexity” but praised U.S. mediation: “Israel and Syria, under U.S. mediation, are in highly intensive talks… 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.”
Diker flagged Iranian proxies like Hezbollah as the real saboteurs, attempting assassinations on al-Sharaa and mobilizing cells near the Israeli border—prompting Israeli strikes, such as in Bet Jinn.
There, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently rallied wounded reserve troops, vowing post-Oct. 7 resolve: “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 outlined red lines for any deal: “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… 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.”
Trump’s envoy-driven approach—bolstered by sanctions waivers and anti-terror coalitions—signals a calculated bet on al-Sharaa’s regime to contain Iran and ISIS, potentially extending peace accords while Israel maintains vigilant countermeasures against parade chants that hark back to old threats.
