Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held discussions yesterday with the United States (U.S.) National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange.
Sullivan arrived in Israel for talks with Israeli officials on the latest regional developments, particularly concerning the situations in Gaza and Syria.
U.S. media report that Sullivan is also expected to visit Egypt and Qatar as part of his regional tour.
Netanyahu and Sullivan discussed negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement on a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange in Gaza, Israeli media reported.
They also talked about Syria following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as noted in a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“Israel will do whatever is necessary to protect its security from any threat,” Netanyahu stated during the meeting.
The Israeli military occupied a buffer zone in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria on Sunday, shortly after Netanyahu announced the collapse of the Agreement on Disengagement with Damascus, which had been supervised by the United Nations(UN).
Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967. The boundaries of the buffer and demilitarized zones were established by the Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, which was signed in 1974.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups seized control of the Syrian capital Damascus early Sunday morning, bringing an end to the rule of the Ba’ath Party, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.
