As the smoke and debris filled the air around the Syrian presidential palace, the concern within the White House intensified. According to Axios, one White House official said that “Bibi is acting like a madman. He’s constantly bombing everything”.
Another US official highlighted that the recent shelling of a church in Gaza prompted President Trump to personally call Netanyahu for an explanation. “It feels like there’s a new crisis every day. What the hell is going on?”
A third US official expressed the rising doubt about Netanyahu within the US President administration, describing him as impulsive and difficult to manage. “Sometimes Netanyahu is like a misbehaving child.”
Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Ziv Agmon, declined to comment.
The six US officials told Axios that despite a US-brokered ceasefire, this week ended with the White House significantly more armed about Netanyahu and his regional policies. However, Trump has so far refrained from public criticism, and it’s unclear if he shares his advisers’ frustrations. It is not totally clear whether he shares his advisers’ recent concerns about Israel’s actions in Syria.
Israel bombed Syria on Tuesday, a convoy of Syrian army tanks en route to the city of Suwayda to respond to the violent clashes between Druze militia and armed Bedouin tribesmen, which had killed over 700 people as of Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
According to Axios, Israel claimed that the convoy crossed into a zone of southern Syria it demands be demilitarized, and that the Syrian military was participating in attacks on the Druze minority, which Syria denies.
On Tuesday, the US envoy Tom Barrack asked his Israeli counterparts to stand down to allow for a diplomatic resolution, and the Israelis committed to doing so, according to a U.S. official.
Israel escalated the strikes after a pause. Israel on Wednesday dropped bombs on Syria’s military headquarters and near the presidential palace.
