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Al-Sharaa’s trip, planned for November 10, will be first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House.

United States President Donald Trump will host Syria’s interim leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, for talks on November 10, according to Washington’s envoy to Damascus, in what would mark the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the US capital.

Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, told the Axios newspaper on Saturday that al-Sharaa is expected to sign an agreement to join an international US-led alliance against the ISIL (ISIS) group during his visit.

The Reuters news agency also cited a Syrian source familiar with the matter as saying that the trip was expected to take place within the next two weeks.

According to the US State Department’s historical list of foreign leader visits, no previous Syrian president has paid an official visit to Washington.

Al-Sharaa, who seized power from Bashar al-Assad last December, has been seeking to re-establish Syria’s ties with world powers that had shunned Damascus during al-Assad’s rule.

He met with Trump in Saudi Arabia in May, in what was the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, was seen as a major turn of events for a Syria that is still adjusting to life after the more than 50-year rule of the Assad family.

Al-Sharaa also addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that Washington was aiming to recruit Damascus to join the coalition the US has led since 2014 to fight against ISIL, the armed group that controlled about a third of Syria and Iraq at its peak, between 2014 and 2017.

“We are trying to get everybody to be a partner in this alliance, which is huge for them,” Barrack said.

Al-Sharaa once led Syria’s offshoot of al-Qaeda, but a decade ago, his anti-Assad rebel group broke away from the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and later clashed with ISIL.

Al-Sharaa once had a $10m US reward on his head.

Al-Sharaa, also referred to as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, had joined fighters battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by US troops there for several years.

The US-led coalition and its local partners drove ISIL from its last stronghold in Syria in 2019.

Al-Sharaa’s planned visit to Washington comes as Trump is urging Middle East allies to seize the moment to build a durable peace in the volatile region after Israel and Hamas earlier this month began implementing a ceasefire and captives’ deal. That agreement aims to bring about a permanent end to Israel’s brutal two-year war in Gaza.

The fragile ceasefire and captive release deal continues to hold, but the situation remains precarious.

Israeli strikes in Gaza earlier this week killed 104 people, including dozens of women and children, the enclave’s health authorities said. The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on October 10, marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.

Meanwhile, Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli air strikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.

Barrack told the Manama Dialogue earlier that Syria and Israel continued to hold de-escalation talks, which the US has been mediating.

He told reporters that Syria and Israel were close to reaching an agreement, but declined to say when exactly a deal could be reached.

Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades.

Despite the overthrow of al-Assad last December, territorial disputes and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries remain.

Syria’s al-Sharaa voices hope for deal, warns of regional risks due to Israeli attempts to fragment country.

Israel is close to striking a “de-escalation” agreement with Syria, after the latter’s President signalled that his country was “scared” of the former’s relentless attacks since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s rule last year.

United States Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that the agreement would see Israel stopping its attacks on its neighbour, while Syria will agree to not move any machinery or heavy equipment near the Israeli border.

Barrack said that both sides were negotiating “in good faith” on the agreement, which had been slated for completion this week, but had been slowed down by the Rosh Hashana holiday – the Jewish New Year – this week. The agreement would serve as first step towards an eventual security deal, he said.

Speaking shortly before Barrack, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces toppled longtime autocrat ruler al-Assad back in December, voiced hope for a security deal, pointing out that his country had not created problems with Israel.

“We are scared of Israel, not the other way around,” he told an event of the Middle East Institute in New York.

“There are multiple risks with Israel stalling on the negotiations and insisting on violating our airspace and incursions into our territory,” he said.

“Jordan is under pressure, and any talk of partitioning Syria will hurt Iraq, will hurt Turkiye. That will take us all back to square one,” he added.

Al-Sharaa will be the first Syria leader to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday in six decades.

Risks of fragmentation

Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades, the enmity between the pair heightening during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has hobbled Syria’s attempts to get back on a stable footing, trashing a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two states, striking Syrian military assets and sending troops to within 20 km (12 miles) of Damascus.

Al-Sharaa said last week that Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions.

Israel has alternately claimed that its strikes on Syria are aimed at preventing terrorism or protecting the country’s Druze minority, notably in the southern area of Suwayda where sectarian violence erupted in June. But Israel has brazenly bombed central Damascus as well.

Critics charge that Israel is seeking to fragment the country in a bid to keep it weak and exert its own dominance over the region.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, al-Sharaa renewed his call to the US to formally lift sanctions imposed on his country to enable it to rebuild and held talks this week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Israel has been lobbying US lawmakers and policymakers at the State Department for months to keep sanctions in place.

In a historical twist of fate for the ages, al-Sharaa sat down for interview this week, whilst in New York for the UNGA, with former US General David Petraeus, who once arrested the then rebel righter and led American forces during the invasion of Iraq, later becoming the director of the CIA.

The reported visit follows one in March 2025 which led to the release of a US citizen held for more than two years in Afghanistan.

United States officials have agreed to a prisoner exchange after a rare talk with the authorities in Kabul, according to the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US special envoy for Afghanistan, met with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

“Adam Boehler, referring to the issue of detained citizens between Afghanistan and the United States, said that both countries will exchange prisoners,” deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar’s office said after their meeting.

There was no immediate statement from Washington regarding the meeting, and Khalilzad did not immediately respond to a phone call from Reuters when asked for comment.

Mahmood Habibi, a naturalised US citizen and businessman who previously worked for a telecommunications company in Kabul, is the highest-profile American detainee, according to Washington. The US is offering a $5 million reward for information to find him, with the Taliban authorities denying any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.

The Taliban has reportedly pressed for the release of Muhammad Rahim, the last Afghan national held at Guantanamo Bay, who has been detained without charge since 2008.

Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.

That deal, mediated by Qatar, was described by the Taliban as a “humanitarian” gesture and a “sign of goodwill”.

Before that, in January 2025, the two sides carried out a prisoner exchange in which US citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were released in exchange for Khan Mohammad, an Afghan national serving two life sentences in the US.

Both sides also agreed to continue discussions regarding nationals imprisoned in each other’s countries, the statement added.

The Taliban administration, which took power in 2021 after 20 years of US military intervention in Afghanistan, is not recognised by Washington.

Tom Barrack’s remarks to journalists trigger calls for an apology and media boycott.

A top US diplomat has triggered outrage and calls for an apology in Lebanon after telling a group of local journalists to “act civilised”.

Tom Barrack, the United States ambassador to Turkiye and the special envoy for Syria, made the comments on Tuesday after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut to discuss plans for the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Briefing local media after the meeting, Barrack, who is of Lebanese descent, chided reporters for shouting out questions all at once, and appeared to draw a link between their behaviour and conflict in the Middle East.

“We’re going to have a different set of rules… please be quiet for a moment,” Barrack said.

“And I want to tell you something, the moment this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone. So, you want to know what’s happening? Act civilised, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what is happening in the region.”

“In cadence with your kindness, your interest and your thoughtful questions, we’ll give you responses,” Barrack added. “If that’s not how you’d like to operate, we’re gone.”

Barrack’s remarks prompted a swift backlash in Lebanon and farther afield, with commentators accusing the diplomat of displaying arrogance and a colonial mentality.

The Lebanese Presidency expressed regret over the comments, saying in a statement on X that the government has “full appreciation for all journalists” and “extends to them its highest regards for their efforts and dedication in fulfilling their professional and national duties”.

The Union of Journalists in Lebanon called on Lebanese and Arab media outlets to boycott future events involving the envoy until he issues a formal public apology.

“The union considers Barrack’s comments against journalists not as a mere slip of the tongue or an individual stance, but rather as a reflection of an unacceptable superiority in dealing with the media and an implicit disdain for the essence of journalistic work,” the media union said in a statement.

“Furthermore, the content of his remarks reflects ingrained colonial arrogance towards the peoples of the region and constitutes a blatant violation of basic diplomatic etiquette and the values that diplomacy should represent – chief among them respect for press freedom and the people’s right to knowledge.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, a Beirut-based columnist at The Cradle, said Barrack’s comments reflected Washington’s attitude towards the region.

“Today, Tom Barrack is reminding us how they view people of the region by defining their actions as animalistic,” Sweidan said.

The US Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia and Qatar are ready to invest in an economic zone in south Lebanon near the border with Israel that would create jobs for members of the militant Hezbollah group and its supporters once they lay down their weapons, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East said Tuesday.

Tom Barrack made his comments in Beirut after trips to Israel and Syria where he discussed with officials there the ongoing situation in Lebanon following this month’s decision by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year. Hezbollah’s leader rejected the government’s plan, vowing to keep the weapons.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces could begin withdrawing from territory they hold in southern Lebanon after the Lebanese government’s “momentous decision” to disarm Hezbollah.

The U.S.-backed Lebanese army is preparing a plan for Hezbollah’s disarmament that should be ready by the end of August. The government is expected to discuss the army’s plan and approve it during a meeting scheduled for Sept. 2.

“We have to have money coming into the system. The money will come from the Gulf,” Barrack told reporters after meeting President Joseph Aoun. “Qatar and Saudi Arabia are partners and are willing to do that for the south (of Lebanon) if we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood.”

“We have 40,000 people that are being paid by Iran to fight. What are you gonna do with them? Take their weapon and say ‘by the way, good luck planting olive trees’? It can’t happen. We have to help them,” Barrack said. He was referring to tens of thousands of Hezbollah members who have been funded since the early 1980s by Tehran.

“We, all of us, the Gulf, the U.S., the Lebanese are all gonna act together to create an economic forum that is gonna produce a livelihood,” Barrack said.

When asked why the U.S. doesn’t go to discuss the Hezbollah issue directly with Iran rather than traveling to Israel and Syria, Barrack said: “You think that’s not happening? Goodbye.” Barrack then ended his news conference and walked out of the room.

Speaking on the U.N. peacekeeping force that has been deployed in south Lebanon since Israel first invaded the country in 1978, Barrack said the U.S. would rather fund the Lebanese army than the force that is known as UNIFIL. Speaking about this week’s vote at the United Nations in New York, Barrack said the U.S. backs extending UNIFIL’s term for one year only.

Conflict escalated to war in September 2024, before November ceasefire

A low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack against Israel from Gaza, when Hezbollah began launching rockets across the border in support of its Palestinian ally. The conflict escalated into war in September 2024 and left more than 4,000 people dead, and caused destruction worth $11 billion in Lebanon, according to the World Bank.

The war ended in November with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and since then Hezbollah says it has ended its presence along the border area. Israel has continued almost daily airstrikes that have killed dozens of Hezbollah members.

Amnesty International in a report released Tuesday said it had identified more than 10,000 buildings that were “heavily damaged or destroyed” in southern Lebanon between October 2024 and January this year.

Israeli forces remained in much of the border area for weeks after the ceasefire agreement went into effect and are still holding five strategic points.

Amnesty’s report alleged that Israeli forces may have violated international law by destroying civilian property in areas they were controlling with “manually laid explosives and bulldozers” after the active fighting had ended and there was no longer an “imperative military necessity.”

Barrack chides journalists before news conference, provoking ire

At the start of the joint news conference with U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus, Barrack warned journalists at the presidential palace to be quiet, telling them to “act civilized, act kind, act tolerant.” He threatened to end the conference early otherwise.

“The moment that this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone,” said Barrack. He then asked: “Do you think this is economically beneficial for Morgan and I to be here putting up with this insanity?”

None of the journalists present responded to his comments but the Lebanese press syndicate issued a statement about the “inappropriate treatment” that the Lebanese journalists were subjected to and called on Barrack and the State Department to apologize. It added that if no apology were made, it could escalate by calling for boycotting Barrack’s visits and meeting.

The Presidential Palace also issued a statement regretting the comments made by “one of our guests” and greeted journalists who cover news at the palace, thanking them for their “hard work.”

Mroue and Chehayeb write for the Associated Press. AP writer Abby Sewell contributed to this report.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia will also designate the IRGC as a ‘terrorist entity’.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of directing at least two anti-Jewish attacks in his country and announced plans to expel Iran’s ambassador to Canberra.

Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital on Tuesday, Albanese described the attacks as attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in Australia.

“It is totally unacceptable, and the Australian government is taking strong and decisive action,” he said. “A short time ago, we informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia that he will be expelled.”

The prime minister said Australia has also suspended operations at its embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and moved all of its diplomats to a third country.

“I can also announce the government will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organisation,” he added.

The attacks took place last year, at the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 10 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6, according to Australian officials.

Penny Wong, the Australian foreign minister, said the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three of his colleagues have been declared persona non grata and given seven days to leave the country. She said the move marked the first time that Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II and that the country has also withdrawn its envoy to Tehran.

Still, the Albanese government will maintain some diplomatic lines with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests, Wong said, advising Australians in the Middle Eastern country to return home. She also warned Australians considering travelling to Iran to refrain from doing so.

More soon.

US special envoy Tom Barrack has asked Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territory after Beirut approved a plan to disarm the Hezbollah group by the end of the year, in exchange for an end to Israeli military attacks on its territory.

“There’s always a step-by-step approach, but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply with that equal handshake,” Barrack told reporters on Monday, in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

The US-backed plan sets out a four-phase roadmap for the Hezbollah group to hand in their arsenal as Israel’s military halts ground, air and sea operations and withdraws troops from Lebanon’s south.

Lebanon’s cabinet approved the plan on August 7 despite Hezbollah’s outright refusal to disarm, raising fears that Israel could intensify attacks on Lebanon, even while it carries out near-daily violations of the November truce it signed with Hezbollah to end its war.

Israel has continued these attacks against Lebanon even in the weeks since the cabinet approved the plan.

Barrack described the cabinet’s decision as a “Lebanese decision that requires Israel’s cooperation” and said the US was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is” but provided no further details.

Asked by reporters about whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, the US envoy said “that’s exactly the next step” needed.

“There is cooperation from all sides. We are not here to intimidate anyone. The positive outcomes will benefit Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Israel alike,” he said.

‘An economic proposal’

The US envoy also said Washington would seek an economic proposal for post-war reconstruction in the country, after months of shuttle diplomacy between the US and Lebanon.

Barrack voiced optimism after Monday’s meeting, stating: “A return to prosperity and peace is within reach. I believe we will witness progress in several areas in the coming weeks.”

“This is the first visit of the American envoy to Lebanon after the Lebanese cabinet mandated the Lebanese army to assess how to disarm Hezbollah,” said Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Beirut.

“However, there are a lot of concerns with respect to how this process is going to happen, given the fact that Hezbollah refused.”

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem raised the spectre of civil war, warning there would be “no life” in Lebanon should the state attempt to confront or eliminate the group.

In a written statement after his meeting with Barrack, Aoun said “other parties” now needed to commit to the roadmap’s contents.

Barrack is also set to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri, who often negotiates on behalf of Hezbollah with Washington.

A ‘return to prosperity and peace’?

Under phase one of the US-backed plan, the Lebanese government is to issue a decision committing to Hezbollah’s full disarmament by the end of the year – which it now has – and Israel will cease military operations in Lebanese territory.

In phase two, Lebanon would begin implementing the disarmament plan within 60 days, and the government would approve troop deployments to the south. Then, Israel would begin withdrawing from the south and releasing Lebanese prisoners.

In phase three, which should happen within 90 days of that, Israel is to withdraw from the last two of the five disputed border positions, and money would be secured for Lebanon’s reconstruction.

In phase four, Hezbollah’s remaining heavy weapons are to be dismantled, and Lebanon’s allies will organise a conference to support the country’s economic recovery.

Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s 14-month war with Israel, during which longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in a huge Israeli strike on Beirut. Before the war, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.

The group has long maintained it needs to keep its arsenal to defend Lebanon from attacks, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.

Hezbollah has said it refuses to discuss its arsenal until Israel ends its attacks and withdraws troops from southern Lebanon. Aoun and Salam both want to disarm Hezbollah and have also demanded Israel halt its attacks and withdraw from the country.

Just on Monday, Israeli attacks blew up a house in the town of Meiss el-Jabal, a sound bomb went off in the border town of Dahra, and drones could be overheard in the towns of Wadi Zefta, al-Numairiyeh and Wadi Kafra, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

Aoun said he wants to increase funding for Lebanon’s military and raise money from international donors for post-war reconstruction. The World Bank estimates that the war caused $11bn in damage and economic losses. The country has also faced a crippling economic crisis since 2019.

President Donald Trump has warned that he would impose sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire.

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Moscow, days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face economic penalties.

President Donald Trump has warned that he would impose sanctions on Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine before Friday.

The White House has not outlined specific actions it plans to take, but Trump has previously threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” against Russia’s trade partners, such as India and China.

After arriving in Moscow on Wednesday, Witkoff was met by presidential special representative Kirill Dmitriev, Russian state news agency TASS said.

Dmitriev had played a key role in direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul in recent months, as well as discussions between Russian and US officials.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed on Monday Witkoff’s visit. “We consider (talks with Witkoff) important, substantive and very useful,” he said.

The Kremlin has not said whether Witkoff will meet President Vladimir Putin during his visit.

When reporters asked Trump on Monday what Witkoff’s message would be to Moscow, and if there was anything Russia could do to avoid the sanctions, Trump replied: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”

Witkoff, a real estate billionaire, has had several long meetings with Putin. He had no diplomatic experience before joining Trump’s team in January, and critics have portrayed him as over his head for such tasks.

Three previous rounds of peace talks in Istanbul in an attempt to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine have failed to make headway.

Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said on Friday that he wants peace but that his demands for ending the nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive were unchanged. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support, including seeking NATO membership.

Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week urged his allies to push for “regime change” in Moscow.

Witkoff will discuss Russia’s war on Ukraine as Trump says again that he wants a ‘deal where people stop getting killed’.

United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia next week to continue talks on the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said Witkoff would visit, “I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday.”

Responding to questions from reporters on what Russia could do to avoid looming sanctions, the US president replied: “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.”

Trump has threatened to impose “very severe tariffs” on Russia if it fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine soon.

Trump also said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were now “in the region.”

Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.

Trump’s latest comments come after he recently described Russia’s actions in its war on Ukraine as “disgusting“, after a Russian attack on an apartment block in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, killed 31 people on Thursday.

The attack capped off a month of a record 6,297 Russian long-range drone attacks on Ukraine, a 14-fold increase from July 2024.

Ukraine is looking forward to receiving a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which Trump has promised will be delivered, albeit with funding from Ukraine’s European allies, not the Trump administration.

Ukraine has also continued to launch its own attacks on Russia, with its most recent attacks on Sunday killing three people across the country and causing a major fire at an oil refinery.

A Ukrainian drone attack on Monday morning sparked a fire at a railway station in Russia’s Volgograd region, the regional administration said on Telegram.

As fighting has continued, Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several meetings in recent months in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The latest meeting secured an agreement to exchange 1,200 prisoners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday.

Russia has yet to comment.

Witkoff, a real estate magnate and Trump golf partner, has already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times in Moscow in his role as a White House special envoy.

As a special envoy to the Middle East, he is also Trump’s representative in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which saw him visit Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, where he met with the families of captives held in Gaza.

The US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has visited aid distribution sites in Gaza amid mounting global outrage over deepening famine in the Strip. The aid sites, run by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have been linked to over 1,000 deaths since May. Witkoff said his visit aims to help President Donald Trump shape a plan “deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza”.

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — President Trump’s Mideast envoy on Friday visited a food distribution site in the Gaza Strip operated by an Israeli-backed American contractor whose efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory have been marred by violence and controversy.

International experts warned this week that a “worst-case scenario of famine” is playing out in Gaza. Israel’s nearly 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to starving people.

Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee toured a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, which has been almost completely destroyed and is now a largely depopulated Israeli military zone.

Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while heading to such aid sites since May, according to witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office. Israel and GHF say they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated.

In a report issued Friday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said GHF was at the heart of a “flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.”

Hundreds have been killed seeking food

Witkoff posted on X that he had spent over five hours inside Gaza in order to gain “a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.”

Chapin Fay, a spokesperson for GHF, said the visit reflected Trump’s understanding of the stakes and that “feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority.” The group says it has delivered over 100 million meals since it began operations in May.

All four of the group’s sites established in May are in zones controlled by the Israeli military and have become flashpoints of desperation, with starving people scrambling for scarce aid.

Over 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli fire since May while seeking aid in the territory, most near the GHF sites but also near United Nations aid convoys, the U.N. human rights office said last month.

The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, and GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding.

Officials at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said Friday they received the bodies of 13 people who were killed while trying to get aid, including near the site that U.S. officials visited. GHF denied anyone was killed at their sites on Friday and said most recent shootings had occurred near U.N. aid convoys.

Another 12 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, the hospital said.

The Israeli military said its forces had fired warning shots hundreds of meters (yards) away from the aid site at people it described as suspects and said had ignored orders to distance themselves from its forces. It said it was not aware of any casualties but was still investigating.

Witkoff’s visit comes a week after U.S. officials walked away from ceasefire talks in Qatar, blaming Hamas and pledging to seek other ways to rescue Israeli hostages and make Gaza safe. Trump wrote on social media that the fastest way to end the crisis would be for Hamas to surrender and release hostages.

Human Rights Watch slams Israeli-backed aid system

Human Rights Watch said in its report that “it would be near impossible for Palestinians to follow the instructions issued by GHF, stay safe, and receive aid, particularly in the context of ongoing military operations.” It cited doctors, aid seekers and at least one GHF security contractor.

Building on previous accounts, it described how thousands of Palestinians gather near the sites at night before they open. As they head to the sites on foot, Israeli forces control their movements by opening fire toward them. Once inside the sites, they race for aid in a frenzied fee-for-all, with weaker and more vulnerable people coming away with nothing, the rights group said.

Responding to the report, Israel’s military accused Hamas of sabotaging the aid distribution system, without providing evidence. It said it was working to make the routes under its control safer for those traveling to aid sites. GHF did not immediately respond to questions about the report.

The group has never allowed journalists to visit their sites and Israel’s military has barred reporters from independently entering Gaza throughout the war.

At a Friday press conference in Gaza City, representatives of the territory’s influential tribes accused Israel of empowering factions that loot aid sites and implored Witkoff to stay in Gaza to witness life firsthand. Israel denies aiding looters but says it backs factions that are opposed to Hamas.

“We want the American envoy to come and live among us in these tents where there is no water, no food and no light,” they said. “Our children are hungry in the streets.”

German foreign minister visits West Bank to highlight settler violence

Germany’s foreign minister visited Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian Christian village that has seen recent attacks by Israeli settlers. Johann Wadephul said Israel’s settlements are an obstacle to peace and condemned settler violence. He also called on Hamas to lay down its arms in Gaza and release the remaining hostages.

Germany has thus far declined to join other major Western countries in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state.

Palestinians in another nearby town laid to rest 45-year-old Khamis Ayad, who they say suffocated while extinguishing fires set by settlers during an attack the night before. Witnesses said Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas toward residents after the settlers attacked.

Israel’s military said police were investigating the incident. They said security forces found Hebrew graffiti and a burnt vehicle at the scene but had not detained any suspects.

There has been a rise in settler attacks, as well as Palestinian militant attacks on Israelis and large-scale Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza triggered the war there.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, that day and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive. Most of the others have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

Shurafa, Metz and Frankel write for the Associated Press. Metz reported from Jerusalem and Frankel from Tel Aviv.

US envoy Steve Witkoff to visit aid distribution sites in Gaza to assess ‘dire situation on the ground’: White House

United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Gaza to inspect aid distribution as pressure mounts on Israel over its starvation policy in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Witkoff will travel to Gaza on Friday with US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to inspect aid distribution as condemnation of Israel grows over famine in Gaza and reports that more than 1,000 desperately hungry Palestinians have been killed since May at food distribution sites operated by the notorious US- and Israeli-backed GHF.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Witkoff would visit “distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground”.

“The special envoy and the ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region,” Leavitt said.

The visit by the top US envoy comes a day after more than 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory and health officials reported the deaths of two more children from starvation, adding to the Gaza Health Ministry’s confirmed death toll of 154 people who have died from “famine and malnutrition” – including 89 children – in recent weeks.

Witkoff met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after his arrival in the country on Thursday, the Israeli leader’s office said.

Earlier this week, President Trump contradicted Netanyahu’s insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were untrue, with the US leader saying the enclave was experiencing “real starvation”.

The United Nations and independent experts had warned for months that starvation was taking hold in Gaza due to the Israeli military blockade on humanitarian relief, and this week, they said that “famine is now unfolding”.

Angered by Israel’s denial of aid and ongoing attacks on Gaza’s population, the United Kingdom, Canada and Portugal this week became the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France will recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, following Spain, Norway and Ireland’s lead.

Some 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

Following a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said “the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination”.

“Here, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality,” he said.

“I have the impression that this has been understood today.”

Once a vibrant centre of Palestinian life, much of Gaza has been pulverised by Israeli bombardments and more than 60,000 Palestinians killed, and almost 150,000 wounded, since October 2023, after the Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,139 people.

US ambassador says truce was ‘supported’ by the US and ’embraced’ by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours.

Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, has announced, drawing an uneasy truce between the neighbours after days of air strikes and sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s southwestern Suwayda region.

Barrack said in a post on X early on Saturday that the ceasefire between Syria and Israel was “supported” by Washington and “embraced” by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours.

In his post announcing the ceasefire, Barrack said the US called “upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors “.

There has been no comment yet from Syrian or Israeli officials.

An Israeli official, who declined to be named, told reporters on Friday that in light of the “ongoing instability in southwest Syria”, Israel had agreed to allow the “limited entry of the [Syrian] internal security forces into Suwayda district for the next 48 hours”.

On Wednesday, Israel launched heavy air strikes targeting Syria’s Ministry of Defence in the heart of Damascus, and also hit Syrian government forces in the country’s Suwayda region.

Israel claims it has launched attacks to protect Syria’s Druze minority in Suwayda, where ethnically charged clashes between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces have reportedly left hundreds dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the Druze, who number about one million in Syria – mostly concentrated in Suwayda – and 150,000 in Israel, as “brothers”.

A ceasefire agreement mediated by the US, Turkiye and Arab countries was reached between Druze leaders and the Syrian government on Wednesday. Israel, however, launched air strikes on Syria the same day, killing at least three people and wounding 34 others.

Following the Israeli attacks, Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised speech early on Thursday that protecting the country’s Druze citizens and their rights was a priority, and though Syria would prefer to avoid a conflict with Israel, it was not afraid of war.

Al-Sharaa added that Syria would overcome attempts by Israel to tear the country apart through its aggression.

Heavy fighting again flared up between the Druze and Bedouin tribes in Suwayda on Friday, and Damascus has redeployed a dedicated force to restore calm in the Druze-majority governorate.

US envoy Keith Kellogg will travel to Kyiv early next week, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The United States is once again delivering military supplies to Ukraine and will also be sending its special envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Kyiv next week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

In his nightly address on Friday evening, Ukraine’s leader said that US aid shipments had been restored, following the Pentagon’s decision to briefly halt the delivery of certain weapons to Kyiv.

“We have received political signals at the highest level – good signals – including from the United States, from our European friends,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that his country was working with its allies “on new supplies, increased weapons production in Ukraine and better support for our army”.

“Next week, we will continue working with the US side on a military level, including between our military and General Kellogg,” he said.

At the start of July, the Trump administration paused shipments of weapons to Ukraine, including air defence missiles, over fears that its own stockpiles were dwindling.

The halt coincided with a spike in Russia’s aerial bombardment of Ukraine, with Moscow’s military firing 728 drones and 13 missiles against it on Wednesday, the largest daily total in more than three years of war.

The US military aid pause also came as Ukraine suffered its highest number of monthly civilian casualties in the entire war. In June, 232 people were killed and 1,343 injured, according to the human rights mission in Ukraine.

After announcing earlier this week that the US would resume shipments to Kyiv, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his country was sending weapons to NATO, which could then be sent on to Ukraine by its member states.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Friday that European nations could give some of their military supplies to Kyiv and order replacements from the US.

“It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a [US] factory and get it there,” Rubio said during a visit to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, on the front line, the Russian military struck Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa on Friday morning, injuring at least eight people, according to Ukrainian local officials.

Overnight Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine also injured nine and forced the evacuation of a maternity centre in Kharkiv, President Zelenskyy said.

Drone attacks, shelling

Meanwhile, Russian officials noted that Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks had killed three people in the Russian regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk and Tula on Friday.

The Ukrainian military said on Telegram that it had targeted a Russian fighter aircraft plant in the Moscow region and a missile production facility in the Tula region on Friday.

Both drone attacks caused explosions and fires, Ukraine added.

The US’s decision to resume aid deliveries to Ukraine comes as Trump has signalled a growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Amid an apparent thaw in relations, Rubio met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia on Friday. “We are talking, and that is a start,” Rubio said.

Lavrov later travelled to North Korea to hold talks. Pyongyang has been an important backer of Moscow, sending thousands of troops to Russia to help it in its war against Ukraine.

Trump aide says Washington ‘hopeful’ a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas can be reached by the end of the week.

An aide to United President Donald Trump has suggested a Gaza ceasefire is close, saying Washington hopes to see an agreement finalised by the end of the week.

“We’re in proximity talks now, and we had four issues, and now we’re down to one after two days of proximity talks,” special US envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

“So we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire.”

Witkoff said the deal would see the release of 10 Israeli captives and the bodies of nine. He added that the Trump administration thinks the deal “will lead to a lasting peace in Gaza”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Washington, DC, that while Israel “still has to finish the job in Gaza”, negotiators are “certainly working” on a ceasefire.

Trump and Netanyahu dined together on Monday at the White House during the Israeli leader’s third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

The two leaders are to meet again later on Tuesday.

“He’s coming over later. We’re going to be talking about, I would say, almost exclusively Gaza. We’ve got to get that solved,” the US president told reporters at a cabinet meeting in the White House on Tuesday.

“It’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to.”

Qatar confirmed on Tuesday that Hamas and Israeli delegations are in Doha to discuss the ceasefire proposal.

“There is a positive engagement right now. The mediation teams – the Qataris and the Egyptians – are working around the clock to make sure that there is some consensus built on the framework towards the talks,” Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 57,500 Palestinians, internally displaced nearly the entire population of the enclave and placed hundreds of thousands of people on the verge of starvation.

United Nations experts and rights group have described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide.

Netanyahu suggested on Monday that the US and Israel are working to ensure the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza – an idea first proposed by Trump in February.

Israeli officials have been framing the push to remove all Palestinians from Gaza Gaza as an effort to encourage “voluntary migration” from the territory.

“If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place and give people a free choice,” Netanyahu told reporters.

Rights advocates said the removal of Palestinians from Gaza, which would amount to ethnic cleansing, cannot be considered voluntary.

Prominent legal expert Ralph Wilde said that with the widespread destruction, siege and daily attacks in Gaza, the concept of free choice to stay there or leave “is a lie”.

“It’s forced displacement because that isn’t a choice that is made freely,” Wilde told Al Jazeera.

BEIRUT — A U.S. envoy said Monday he was satisfied with the Lebanese government’s response to a proposal to disarm the militant Hezbollah group, adding that Washington is ready to help the small nation emerge from its long-running political and economic crisis.

The U.S. envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, spoke to journalists after meeting President Joseph Aoun, saying he will study the government’s seven-page response. Barrack said the American and Lebanese sides are committed “to get a resolution.”

“What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time and a very complicated manner,” Barrack said during his 20-minute news conference at the presidential palace southeast of Beirut.

His meetings in Lebanon came amid fears that Hezbollah’s refusal to immediately disarm would renew war with Israel after a shaky ceasefire agreement went into effect in November.

Last month, Barrack gave Lebanese officials a proposal that aims to disarm Hezbollah and move on with some economic reforms to try get Lebanon out of its nearly six-year economic crisis, the worst in its modern history. The economic meltdown is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon’s political class.

Barrack said Lebanon should change in the same way Syria has following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad,who was replaced by a new leadership that is moving ahead with major economic reforms.

Barrack said President Trump and the U.S. are ready to help Lebanon change and “if you don’t want change, it’s no problem. The rest of the region is moving at high speed,” he said.

Hezbollah’s weapons have been one of the principal sticking points since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. The two sides fought a destructive war in 2006 that ended in a draw.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began a day after the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and intensified in September, leaving the Iran-backed group badly bruised and much of its political and military leadership dead.

Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in November, Hezbollah has almost ended all its military presence along the border with Israel, which is insisting that the group disarms all over Lebanon. Aoun said Sunday that the number of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel will increase to 10,000, adding that only Lebanese soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers will be armed on the Lebanese side of the border.

On Sunday night, hours before Barrack arrived in Beirut, Israel’s air force carried out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, wounding nine people, according to state media. The Israeli army said the airstrikes hit Hezbollah’s infrastructure, arms depots and missile launchers.

Earlier Sunday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction estimated at $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.

Since the November ceasefire, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon, killing about 250 people and injuring over 600. Israel is also still holding five strategic posts inside Lebanon that it refused to withdraw from earlier this year.

Chehayeb and Mroue write for the Associated Press.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 7 (UPI) — U.S. special envoy Thomas Barrack said Monday he was “unbelievably satisfied” with Lebanon’s response to Washington’s proposals to disarm Hezbollah, saying Israel seeks peace with its neighbor and Hezbollah needs to see that there is a path forward for them.

Barrack, however, warned that war-ravaged Lebanon risks being left behind if it fails to seize the current opportunities with the region changing at high speed.

The envoy, who was speaking after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun shortly after his arrival in Beirut, praised the Lebanese officials for presenting “a thoughtful and considered” seven-page response to his June 19 roadmap.

His initial proposals include a phased approach to disarm Hezbollah and other militant groups, the implementation of necessary reforms to unlock funds for reconstruction and help solve its acute financial crisis as well as the need to improve ties with neighboring Syria.

According to a statement released by the Presidential Palace, Barrack was handed over Lebanon’s reply with “ideas for a comprehensive solution.”

“We are creating a go-forward plan. To create that, we need dialogue. What the government gave us was something spectacular,” Barrack said. “We are both committed to get to the details and get a resolution. So, I am very, very hopeful.”

He said the mechanism set up to monitor the Nov. 27 cease-fire accord that ended 14 months of a devastating Israel-Hezbollah war “wasn’t sufficient” and “had no ability to correct a default,” referring to the mistrust between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel has continued striking southern Lebanon and other areas of the country since the cease-fire accord, which was brokered by the United States and France, went into effect Feb. 18. It has also refused to fully withdraw and retained five strategic positions inside south Lebanon to force the full disarmament of Hezbollah.

More than 200 Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah field commanders were killed in the ongoing strikes, which Israel claims to target suspected Hezbollah positions and foil the group’s attempts to reorganize its ranks and rearm in violations of the cease-fire accord. Lebanon and Hezbollah on their part recorded more than 3,700 Israeli violations.

In line with the cease-fire agreement, the Lebanese Army has taken control of most of Hezbollah’s positions and military facilities, pushing the militant group away from the border with Israel and preventing it from having a military presence south of the Litani River. The Army could not complete its deployment because of Israel’s continued occupation of the five points inside south Lebanon.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam explained after a meeting with the U.S. envoy that Barrack “wouldn’t have come with new ideas” if the mechanism to monitor the ceasefire succeeded in ending the ongoing hostilities.

“These are ideas for implementing the cessation of hostilities arrangements … based on the principle of parallel and reciprocal steps — not that Israel withdraws first and then we start talking about the issue of exclusive arms control, or that if there is no exclusivity of arms, Israel doesn’t withdraw,” Salam said.

“That’s not how this process works. There are interlinked steps that unfold over time.”

He said Lebanon’s demands include the necessity of a full Israeli withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, a comprehensive and complete cessation of hostile activities, the immediate start of reconstruction efforts and the release of the remaining Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

“The exclusivity of weapons must be in the hands of the Lebanese state, and it alone must reclaim the decision over war and peace,” Salam said. “This authority must lie solely with the Lebanese state, without any partnership with any other party.”

On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said his group, which has repeatedly refused to lay down arms, was ready for both choices: peace and building Lebanon, but also for defending it and confronting Israel until it ends its air strikes and pulls out from south Lebanon.

The U.S. envoy said there is “an opportunity in the air,” calling on Lebanon not to miss it as the region is changing and “everything is moving at warp speed.”

Barrack said that he believes Israel wants peace, not war, with Lebanon while Hezbollah needs to see that “there is a future for them … that there is an intersection of peace and prosperity for them.”

“It has been a nightmare on both sides, for both countries and everybody is tired of it,” he said. “I think both countries are trying to give the same thing: the notion of a stand down agreement of the cessation of hostilities and a road to peace… but everybody will have to give up something.”

Barrack said while Syria “went from absolute chaos to hope of the world standing behind it” and started a dialogue with Israel, Lebanon “can’t be left behind.”

He warned Lebanon that the region “the region is moving at mach speed,” and will be “left behind sadly” if it refuses to change.

But if it does change, Barrack said Washington will support it, adding that U.S. President Donald Trump “for some reason, believes that Lebanon still is the key to the region and can be the Pearl of the Mediterranean.”

US envoy Thomas Barrack praises interim government in Damascus, calls for ‘dialogue’ between Israel and Syria.

The United States envoy to Syria says the conflict between Israel and Syria is “solvable” as he visited the capital, Damascus and praised the interim government, as the political and economic thaw between the nation and Western powers continues apace.

Thomas Barrack, who raised the flag over the US ambassador’s residence for the first time since it closed in 2012 amid Syria’s civil war, said solving the issues between Syria and Israel needed to start with “dialogue”.

“I’d say we need to start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders,” he told journalists on Thursday.

In recent months, the US has begun rebuilding ties with Syria under its new administration.

Earlier in May, the US also lifted sanctions on the country in a surprise announcement, offering a nation devastated by nearly 14 years of war a critical lifeline. The European Union followed suit days later.

Barrack said that Syria would also no longer be deemed by the US as a state sponsor of “terrorism”, saying the issue was gone “with the [former President Bashar al-Assad regime being finished”, but added that the US Congress still had a six-month review period.

“America’s intent and the president’s vision is that we have to give this young government a chance by not interfering, not demanding, by not giving conditions, by not imposing our culture on your culture,” Barrack said.

Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdel Wahed said the warming ties between Syria, the US and other Western countries were a “major shift in the political dynamic of the region”.

Wahed explained that as Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani continues to meet representatives from Western countries and officials from the European Union and the United Nations, it will bring “a lot of benefits” for the new Syrian administration and the Syrian people.

“This is some kind of recognition of the new leadership – giving a chance to the new leadership to boost its economy, to bring more Western investment to help the government rebuild war-torn Syria,” he added.

Syria-Israel relations

Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Israel’s subsequent occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, the two countries have had a fraught relationship.

Shortly after al-Assad was deposed in December following a lightning offensive by opposition fighters, Israel seized more Syrian territory near the border, claiming it was concerned about the interim administration led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Israel has carried out frequent attacks in Syria both during the al-Assad rule and since his ouster.

During a meeting between US President Donald Trump and al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier in May, the US leader urged al-Sharaa to normalise relations with Israel.

While al-Sharaa has not commented on possible normalisation with Israel, he has supported a return to the terms of a 1974 ceasefire agreement that created a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights.