Israeli strikes on Gaza, Syria: Trump was ‘caught off guard’; White House says US President quickly called Netanyahu to ‘rectify’ situation

US President Donald Trump was “caught off guard” by Israeli army actions in Syria final week, in accordance to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, who confirmed he subsequently mentioned the matter with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Israel carried out army operations in Damascus and the Druze-majority metropolis of Sweida, stating their intention was to strain Syrian forces to withdraw from the realm the place ongoing conflicts persist.Leavitt knowledgeable reporters at a press briefing that Trump “was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza,” including that “In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations.”Netanyahu’s current White House go to marked his third since Trump’s return to workplace on January 20. Leavitt famous, “The president enjoys a good working relationship with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and stays in, you know, frequent communication with him,” including “When it came to Syria, we saw a de-escalation there.”A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Syria commenced on Friday. The identical day, PM Netanyahu contacted Pope Leo relating to the Gaza church strike, attributing it to a “stray missile.”In May, Trump met Syria’s Islamist president Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia after easing quite a few long-standing US sanctions on Damascus. Trump subsequently praised al-Sharaa, who beforehand led a major armed group previously related to Al Qaeda that overthrew the Syrian authorities in December. Following al-Sharaa’s rise to energy, the United States eliminated the bounty on his head.