Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Shaar has called on European nations to “stop providing legitimacy” to Syria’s transitional authorities following reports of mass civilian casualties in recent clashes.
His remarks were published Sunday in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper.
“Europe must not fail to read reality,” Shaar said. “It must wake up. It must stop offering legitimacy to a regime whose first actions—unsurprisingly, given its well-known terrorist past—are these atrocities.”
The clashes, which erupted Thursday between Syria’s new security forces and loyalists of the ousted regime, occurred along the Mediterranean coast in the Alawite heartland, home to the minority group of former President Bashar al-Assad. The violence escalated into mass killings, marking a grim chapter in Syria’s history following Assad’s overthrow.
Shaar criticized the international community, particularly Europe, for engaging with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. “The international community has flocked to Damascus in recent months to shake hands,” he said. “However, Sharaa and his men were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if they now wear suits. This weekend, the masks fell as his men mercilessly slaughtered their own people.”
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has maintained a military presence in the UN-supervised buffer zone in the Golan Heights, a strategic area separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Israeli forces have also conducted airstrikes on Syrian military positions in recent months.
