Netanyahu reveals phone call with Syria's al-Sharaa during 2025 Sweida clashes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he spoke by phone with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during the July 2025 Sweida events.

• Netanyahu said the call followed Israeli strikes on Syria's Defense Ministry and a site near the presidential palace in Damascus.
• He described the conversation as "very short and very sharp" and claimed it halted a massacre targeting Druze in Syria.
• Netanyahu pledged to do everything needed to protect the Druze community in Syria, saying work remains to return Druze to their homes.
• The July 2025 Sweida clashes killed more than 2,000 people, including 789 Druze civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
• A Syrian government source, quoted by SANA, rejected Netanyahu's remarks and said the Druze of Suweida are part of Syria's national fabric.
• The source accused Israel of planning to foment chaos in Suweida and called for international pressure to enforce the 1974 disengagement agreement.