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Syria might be prepared to make peace with Israel, the country’s new leader reportedly said yesterday. President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said he may be interested in joining the Abraham Accords, the peace agreements between Israel and several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, during meetings with US Congressman Cory Mills, who was in Damascus last week for a fact-finding visit. Bloomberg reported Mills’s account of Al-Sharaa’s comments yesterday.
Al-Sharaa, who rose to power after the Iran-backed Assad regime was ousted in December, reportedly offered normalisation with Israel in exchange for lifting US economic sanctions. “The sanctions are crushing their economy,” Mills said.
According to Bloomberg, the talks centred on conditions for Syria the sanctions to be lifted, including the dismantling of chemical weapons, counterterrorism coordination and addressing the presence of foreign fighters. Mills said he plans to brief Donald Trump and White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and deliver a letter from Al-Sharaa to Trump.
As those comments were breaking, Israel’s president, released hostages, and relatives of those still held in Gaza marched alongside Holocaust survivors through Auschwitz to mark Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust remembrance day observed in Israel and much of the Jewish world. Some 30 UN ambassadors joined the March of the Living, which became a global plea for hostage release and a defiant stand against antisemitism.
President Isaac Herzog said at Auschwitz, during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda: “With a broken heart, I remind us all that although after the Holocaust we vowed, ‘Never Again,’ today, even as we stand here, the souls of dozens of Jews again yearn within a cage, thirsting for water and for freedom, as 59 of our brothers and sisters are held by terrorist murderers in Gaza, in a horrific crime against humanity.
"The return of the hostages is a universal human imperative; and I call from here upon the entire international community to mobilise and put an end to this humanitarian crime.”
Freed hostage Keith Siegel said the march showed how the trauma of Hamas’ attack and its aftermath had become a “collective fate” linking today’s hostages with the victims of past atrocities. Participants repeatedly compared the attacks of October 7 2023 and the holding of hostages to the horrors remembered at Auschwitz, insisting that “Never Again” demands real action, not just slogans.
Speaking of the Israel-Hamas war, the terror group killed an Israeli soldier in Gaza yesterday and wounded three others. The fallen soldier was Asaf Cafri, 26, from Beit Hashmonai. Cafri was reportedly struck by sniper fire, and the terrorists who attacked then fled the scene.
The area was also the site of a fatal Hamas ambush on Saturday, in which Hamas operatives opened fire on an unarmoured army vehicle, wounding three soldiers before planting a bomb that killed one soldier and injured another.
Israel will escalate fighting in Gaza if hostage talks continue to stall, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned yesterday. He said: “If we see no progress in the return of the hostages, we will expand our activities to an intense and even more significant move, until we reach the defeat of Hamas.”
But the army has also admitted that troops mistakenly killed a UN worker in Gaza. The IDF said that a tank unit shelled a UN guesthouse in Deir al-Balah on March 19, misidentifying it as a combat target.
“According to the evidence collected to date, the casualty resulted from tank fire by an IDF unit operating in the area,” the military said, adding: “We regret the unintentional harm to the UN worker and extend our condolences to the family.” The IDF expressed “deep sorrow” and said the site was not properly marked at the time.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu’s silence on the death of Pope Francis ended yesterday with a brief condolence message. Netanyahu posted on X: “The State of Israel expresses its deepest condolences to the Catholic Church and the Catholic community worldwide at the passing of Pope Francis. May he rest in peace.”
Church figures in Europe had earlier criticised Israel’s lack of an official statement — as had voices inside Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which deleted it’s own post after a few hours.
Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon has warned Iran to stop interfering in its defence policy. Tehran’s ambassador Mojtaba Amani was summoned by officials in Beirut, who are leading efforts to disarm the Iranian proxy organisation Hezbollah. Amani had reportedly condemned efforts to disarm Hezbollah as a “conspiracy.”
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said no outside state would dictate Beirut’s national security. Hezbollah has vowed not to disarm, calling attempts to get it to do so “manipulation” and accusing the US of overreach.
And US-Iran nuclear talks will continue tomorrow, and US President Donald Trump is expressing optimism. “I think we’re doing very well with respect to Iran,” he said yesterday. “We’re having very serious meetings, and there are only two options. And one option is not a good option. It’s not a good option at all.” Trump also said several Arab countries were lining up to join the Abraham Accords.
In related news, China, Russia, and Iran held joint talks with the UN nuclear watchdog to discuss Iran’s atomic programme. The meeting is seen as a signal of coordination among Iran’s key allies amid pressure from the West.
In Europe, Spain’s government has cancelled a €6.6 million (£5.7 million) ammunition deal with an Israeli arms firm after domestic political pressure, Madrid confirmed yesterday. The Interior Ministry voided a contract with IMI Systems covering 15 million rounds of 9mm police-grade ammunition.
Far-left party Sumar demanded the cancellation over Israel’s Gaza operations. Spain had already halted arms exports to Israel in October.
Finally, Armed settlers shot two Palestinians during a nighttime raid in Bardala village, according to media reports. Masked men set fires and opened fire before fleeing. Video shows burned structures and gunfire. Two men were hospitalised. Local sources said IDF troops were present but made no arrests. The IDF said it was reviewing the incident.
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