How Israeli strikes have pushed Iran’s leadership into a corner

How Israeli strikes have pushed Iran’s leadership into a corner
Smoke billows from a site targeted by an Israeli strike in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning of June 13, 2025. (Sepah News/AFP)
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Updated 14 June 2025
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How Israeli strikes have pushed Iran’s leadership into a corner

How Israeli strikes have pushed Iran’s leadership into a corner
  • Severely degraded missile capabilities and military network mean Tehran is unable to respond with effective strikes
  • Regional security experts believe Tehran is left with limited options, each more perilous than the other

DUBAI: Israel has gutted Iran’s nuclear and military leadership with airstrikes that leave a weakened Tehran with few options to retaliate, including an all-out war that it is neither equipped for nor likely to win, according to four regional officials.

The overnight strikes by Israel – repeated for second night on Friday – have ratcheted up the confrontation between the arch foes to an unprecedented level after years of war in the shadows, which burst into the open when Iran’s ally Hamas attacked Israel in 2023.

READ: Iran warns US, UK and France against helping stop strikes on Israel

Regional security sources said it was unlikely that Tehran could respond with similarly effective strikes because its missile capabilities and military network in the region have been severely degraded by Israel since the Hamas attacks that triggered the Gaza war.

State news agency IRNA said that Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday in retaliation. But the Israeli military said the missiles numbered fewer than 100 and most were intercepted or fell short. No casualties were immediately reported.




Rescue personnel work at an impact site following missile attack from Iran in Ramat Gan, Israel on June 14, 2025. (Reuters)

The regional security sources said Iran’s leaders, humiliated and increasingly preoccupied with their own survival, cannot afford to appear weak in the face of Israeli military pressure, raising the prospect of further escalation – including covert attacks on Israel or even the perilous option of seeking to build a nuclear bomb rapidly.

“They can’t survive if they surrender,” said Mohanad Hage Ali at the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank in Beirut. “They need to strike hard against Israel but their options are limited. I think their next option is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

Withdrawing from the NPT would be a serious escalation as it would signal Iran is accelerating its enrichment program to produce weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb, experts said.

READ: UN chief urges ‘maximum restraint’ after Israel strikes Iran

Iran’s leadership has not confirmed whether it would attend a sixth round of deadlocked talks with the US over its nuclear program scheduled for Sunday in Oman.

Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq – as well as by the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

Western sanctions have also hit Iran’s crucial oil exports and the economy is reeling from a string of crises including a collapsing currency and rampant inflation, as well as energy and water shortages.




People gather for a protest against Israel’s wave of strikes on Iran in central Tehran on June 13, 2025. (AFP)

“They can’t retaliate through anyone. The Israelis are dismantling the Iranian empire piece by piece, bit by bit … and now they’ve started sowing internal doubt about (the invincibility of) the regime,” said Sarkis Naoum, a regional expert. “This is massive hit.”

Israel strikes targeting key facilities in Tehran and other cities continued into the night on Friday. The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was defiant on Friday, saying Israel had initiated a war and would suffer “a bitter fate.”

Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, director of the Gulf Research Center think tank, said Iran has been backed into a corner with limited options. One possibility would be to offer assurances – in private – that it will abandon uranium enrichment and dismantle its nuclear capabilities, since any public declaration of such a capitulation would likely provoke a fierce domestic backlash.




Sites of strikes and explosions following the attack of June 13.

He said another option could involve a return to clandestine warfare, reminiscent of the 1980s bombings targeting US and Israeli embassies and military installations.

A third, and far more perilous option, would be to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accelerate its uranium enrichment program.

Such a move, Sager warned, would be tantamount to a declaration of war and would almost certainly provoke a strong international response – not only from Israel, but also from the US and other Western powers.

Trump has threatened military action to ensure Iran does not obtain an atomic weapon. He reiterated his position on Thursday, saying: “Iran must completely give up hopes of obtaining a nuclear weapon.”




First responders gather outside a building that was hit by an Israeli strike in Tehran on June 13, 2025. (Tasnim News/AFP)

Iran is currently enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent it would need for nuclear weapons. It has enough material at that level, if processed further, for nine nuclear bombs, according to a UN nuclear watchdog yardstick.

Israel’s strikes overnight on Thursday targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, military commanders and nuclear scientists. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

At least 20 senior commanders were killed, two regional sources said. The armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards Chief Hossein Salami, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were among them.




People chant slogans during a protest against Israel’s wave of strikes on Iran in Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran on June 13, 2025. ( AFP)

“It’s a big attack: big names, big leaders, big damage to the Iranian military leadership and its ballistic missiles. It’s unprecedented,” said Carnegie's Hage Ali.

Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said Israel would probably not be able to take out Iran’s nuclear project completely without US help.

“Therefore, if the US will not be part of the war, I assume that some parts of (Iran’s) nuclear project will remain,” she said on Friday.




Above, a handout satellite image released by Planet Labs on June 13, 2025, shows the Natanz nuclear facilities (Shahid Ahmadi Roshan Nuclear Facilities) near Ahmadabad, Iran on May 20, 2025. (Planet Labs/AFP)

Friday’s strikes have not only inflicted strategic damage but have also shaken Iran’s leadership to the core, according to a senior regional official close to the Iranian establishment.

Defiance has transformed into concern and uncertainty within the ruling elite and, behind closed doors, anxiety is mounting, not just over the external threats but also their eroding grip on power at home, the official said.

“Panic has surged among the leadership,” the senior regional official said. “Beyond the threat of further attacks, a deeper fear looms large: domestic unrest.”

A moderate former Iranian official said the killing in 2020 of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on the orders of President Donald Trump, started the rot.

Since then, the Islamic Republic has struggled to reassert its influence across the region and has never fully recovered. “This attack might be the beginning of the end,” he said.

If protests erupt, and the leadership responds with repression, it will only backfire, the former official said, noting that public anger has been simmering for years, fueled by sanctions, inflation and an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.

In his video address shortly after the attacks started, Netanyahu suggested he would like to see regime change in Iran and sent a message to Iranians.

“Our fight is not with you. Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years. I believe the day of your liberation is near,” he said.

The hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, throwing the Iranian security establishment into a state of confusion and chaos.

“These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime,” said Shine.

Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran.

Iran’s most powerful proxy in the region, Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, is also in a weak position to respond.

In the days leading up to the strikes on Iran, security sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters the group would not join any retaliatory action by Iran out of fear such a response could unleash a new Israeli blitz on Lebanon.

Israel’s war last year against Hezbollah left the group badly weakened, with its leadership decimated, thousands of its fighters killed, and swathes of its strongholds in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs destroyed.

Analysts said Trump could leverage the fallout from the Israeli strikes to bring Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table – but this time more isolated, and more likely to offer deeper concessions.

“One thing is clear: the Iranian empire is in decline,” said regional expert Naoum. “Can they still set the terms of their decline? Not through military terms. There’s only one way to do that: through negotiations.”

 


Syria wildfires contained after 10 days

Syria wildfires contained after 10 days
Updated 11 sec ago
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Syria wildfires contained after 10 days

Syria wildfires contained after 10 days
  • The blazes in the coastal province of Latakia broke out amid an intense heatwave across the region
  • UN humanitarian agency says fires destroyed about 100 square kilometers of forest and farmland
DAMASCUS: Syria’s civil defense agency on Sunday said wildfires in the country’s west, which have burned vast tracts of forest and farmland and forced evacuations, had been brought under control after 10 days.
In a statement on Facebook, the agency said that “with the spread of the fires halted and the fire hotspots brought under control on all fronts” on Saturday, teams on the ground were working to cool down the affected areas while monitoring any signs of reignition.
The blazes in the coastal province of Latakia broke out amid an intense heatwave across the region.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said they destroyed about 100 square kilometers of forest and farmland.
As the fires raged, Syrian emergency workers faced tough conditions including high temperatures, strong winds, rugged mountainous terrain and the danger of explosive war remnants.
This all comes in a country worn down by years of conflict and economic crisis.
In a post on X, the Syrian minister for emergencies and disaster management, Raed Al-Saleh, said that with help from Turkish, Jordanian, Lebanese, Qatari and Iraqi teams, firefighters had “managed to halt the spread of the fire on all fronts, which is the most important step toward containing the wildfires.”
The “situation is the best it has been in the past 10 days,” Saleh said late Saturday.
“There are still threats due to wind activity, but we are working to prevent any renewed expansion of the fires,” the minister added.
The civil defense agency said rescue teams were carrying out “operations to open pathways and firebreaks within the forests... in order to reduce the chances of fire spreading in case of reignition.”
Authorities have not reported any casualties, but several towns in Latakia province have been evacuated as a precaution.
Nearly seven months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that ravaged the country’s economy, infrastructure and public services.
With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.
In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”

59 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli airstrikes or shot dead while seeking aid

59 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli airstrikes or shot dead while seeking aid
Updated 13 July 2025
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59 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli airstrikes or shot dead while seeking aid

59 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli airstrikes or shot dead while seeking aid
  • The Red Cross said its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: At least 31 Palestinians were fatally shot on their way to an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, while Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians including four children, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said.

There were no signs of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks following two days of meetings between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had said he was nearing an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would potentially wind down the war.

The 31 Palestinians shot dead were on their way to a distribution site run by the Israeli-backed American organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation near Rafah in southern Gaza, hospital officials and witnesses said.

The Red Cross said its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings, and that the overwhelming majority of the more than 100 people hurt had gunshot wounds.

Airstrikes in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah killed 13 including the four children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Intense airstrikes continued Saturday evening in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

Israelis rallied yet again for a ceasefire deal. “Arrogance is what brought the disaster upon us,” former hostage Eli Sharabi said of Israeli leaders.

Teen’s first attempt to pick up food ends in death

The 21-month war has left much of Gaza’s population of over 2 million reliant on outside aid while food security experts warn of famine. Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after ending the latest ceasefire in March.

“All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites,” the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the “alarming frequency and scale” of such mass casualty incidents.

Israel’s military said it fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties. The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites.

Abdullah Al-Haddad said he was 200 meters from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians.

“We were together, and they shot us at once,” he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser Hospital.

Mohammed Jamal Al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel’s military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started.

Sumaya Al-Sha’er’s 17-year-old son, Nasir, was killed, hospital officials said.

“He said to me, ‘Mom, you don’t have flour and today I’ll go and bring you flour, even if I die, I’ll go and get it,’” she said. “But he never came back home.”

Until then, she said, she had prevented the teenager from going to GHF sites because she thought it was too dangerous.

Witnesses, health officials and UN officials say hundreds have been killed by Israeli fire while heading toward GHF distribution points through military zones off limits to independent media. The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

The GHF denies there has been violence in or around its sites. But two of its contractors told The Associated Press that their colleagues have fired live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, allegations the foundation denied.

In a separate effort, the UN and aid groups say they struggle to distribute humanitarian aid because of Israeli military restrictions and a breakdown of law and order that has led to widespread looting.

The first fuel – 150,000 liters – entered Gaza this week after 130 days, a joint statement by UN aid bodies said, calling it a small amount for the “the backbone of survival in Gaza.” Fuel runs hospitals, water systems, transport and more, the statement said.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war and abducted 251. Hamas still holds some 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.


Iran says it would resume nuclear talks with US if guaranteed no further attacks

Iran says it would resume nuclear talks with US if guaranteed no further attacks
Updated 13 July 2025
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Iran says it would resume nuclear talks with US if guaranteed no further attacks

Iran says it would resume nuclear talks with US if guaranteed no further attacks
  • Following the US strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors
  • Top Iran envoy says that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation ‘case by case’

Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that his country would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks against it, state media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.”

Referring to the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran’s nuclear and military sites, and the US strike on June 22, Araghchi said that if the US and others wish to resume talks with Iran, “first of all, there should be a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated. The attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution based on negotiations.”

Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.

Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation “case by case,” based on Iran’s interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran’s “security” concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. “The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,” he said.

He also reiterated Iran’s position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. US President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.

Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60 percent – a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the US airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.


Why BCG’s involvement in Gaza marks an all-time low for consulting firms

Why BCG’s involvement in Gaza marks an all-time low for consulting firms
Updated 13 July 2025
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Why BCG’s involvement in Gaza marks an all-time low for consulting firms

Why BCG’s involvement in Gaza marks an all-time low for consulting firms
  • FT investigation examined Boston Consulting Group’s role in Gaza aid planning, including plans for Palestinian relocation
  • BCG has disavowed the work and fired two senior partners — but the scandal sheds light on the wider industry’s irresponsibility

LONDON: A Financial Times investigation, published on July 4, found that a consulting firm connected to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation secured a multimillion-dollar contract to help shape the initiative and a proposal for the possible “relocation” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

The Boston Consulting Group was found to have played a central role in designing and managing the US- and Israeli-backed project, which aimed to replace the UN as the primary coordinator of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Amid growing criticism, BCG denied any ongoing involvement in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In a June 7 statement, the firm said it initially provided “pro bono support” in October 2024 to help launch “an aid organization intended to operate alongside other relief efforts.”

BCG has faced heavy scrutiny for its role in Gaza’s postwar reconstruction, mainly through its work with the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. (AFP file)

The firm said two senior US-based partners who led the initiative “failed to disclose the full nature of the work” and later engaged in “unauthorized” activities outside the firm’s oversight.

“Their actions reflected a serious failure of judgment and adherence to our standards,” the firm said. “We are shocked and outraged by the actions of these two partners. They have been exited from the firm.

“BCG disavows the work they undertook. It has been stopped, and BCG has not and will not be paid for any of their work.”

The company emphasized it is strengthening internal controls to prevent future breaches. “We deeply regret that in this situation we did not live up to our standards,” the statement said. “We are committed to accountability for our failures and humility in how we move forward.”

FAST FACTS:

• A Financial Times investigation examined BCG’s role in Gaza aid planning, including controversial proposals for Palestinian relocation.

• BCG disavowed the work and fired two senior partners, but documents suggest deeper involvement and lapses in internal oversight.

• The scandal underscores wider concerns about consulting firms’ ethics, with similar controversies involving PwC, KPMG, EY and McKinsey.

Following the FT story, BCG issued another statement on July 6 disputing aspects of the reporting. “Recent media reporting has misrepresented BCG’s role in post-war Gaza reconstruction,” the firm said.

BCG reiterated that the initiative was not an official company project and was carried out in secret. “Two former partners initiated this work, even though the lead partner was categorically told not to,” the statement read.

“This work was not a BCG project. It was orchestrated and run secretly outside any BCG scope or approvals. We fully disavow this work. BCG was not paid for any of this work.”

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel on July 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

However, individuals familiar with “Aurora” told the FT that BCG’s involvement ran deeper. The report revealed that BCG created a financial model for Gaza’s postwar reconstruction that included scenarios for mass displacement.

This revelation intensified scrutiny of the consulting industry’s ethical boundaries.

“Consulting companies… are held to a higher standard of professionalism and ethics than other lines of work,” Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, wrote in an April opinion piece for Arab News.

He warned that without corrective action, major firms risk alienating clients.

Displaced Palestinians carrying relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) return from aid distribution centers in Rafah to their tents in the southern Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025. (AFP)

ndeed, in recent years, top consulting firms like McKinsey, PwC, KPMG, and EY have faced growing scrutiny for putting profit over ethics, with scandals revealing conduct lapses worldwide.

McKinsey, for instance, faced heavy backlash for its role in the US opioid crisis. The firm was accused of helping Purdue Pharma and other manufacturers to aggressively market addictive painkillers, including OxyContin, The New York Times reported.

Aluwaisheg noted in his op-ed that some of these ethical lapses “are quite common throughout the consulting business.”

However, he added, “big firms are more likely to commit them,” citing sprawling operations that limit senior management oversight.

The industry’s core business model may be the issue: consulting firms adopted law firms’ high-fee model for expert advice — without their legal liability.

Despite this, demand for consulting services remains high. Aluwaisheg believes governments and businesses will continue to need outside expertise.

People walk by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) New York headquarters. (AFP)

Still, accountability concerns have prompted some governments to take action. In February, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund banned PwC from taking on new advisory and consulting contracts for one year.

Some media outlets reported that the decision was related to an ethical violation tied to an alleged recruitment of a senior-level employee from the client’s side. The suspension did not impact PwC’s auditing work.

These events highlight ongoing concerns over consulting firms’ roles in controversial actions. In April 2024, KPMG’s Dutch arm was fined $25 million after over 500 staff cheated on internal training exams, Reuters reported.

Yet the BCG case may represent a new low for the industry.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s model bypassed traditional organizations like the UN, restricted aid distribution to limited sites under Israeli oversight and relied on private security contractors. This move has had deadly consequences.

According to Gaza’s health authority, at least 740 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4,900 injured while attempting to reach aid centers, drawing condemnation from humanitarian organizations and UN officials.

Displaced Palestinians look around on alert in the wake of gunfire shots as they receive food packages from a US-backed foundation pledging to distribute humanitarian aid in western Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. (AFP)

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher called the initiative a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.

In a July 10 letter to the FT editor, BCG’s CEO Christoph Schweizer pushed back against the allegations that his firm endorsed or profited from projects related to Gaza.

“None of that is true,” Schweizer wrote, adding that “a few people from BCG were involved in such work. They never should have been.”

Adding another layer to the controversy, FT reported on July 6 that staff from the Tony Blair Institute were also implicated in postwar planning that included scenarios for mass Palestinian displacement — despite being prominent advocates for peace in the Middle East.

Christoph Schweizer, CEO of Boston Consulting Group. (Supplied)

The plan, seen by the FT, imagined Gaza as a regional economic hub, complete with a “Trump Riviera” and “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone,” based on financial models developed by BCG.

While the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change denied authoring “The Great Trust” blueprint, it acknowledged two staff joined Gaza planning calls and chats. It also denied backing population relocation.

Arab News approached the TBI for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Nevertheless, its involvement has triggered additional concerns about the ethics of postwar reconstruction planning and the role of consulting firms in shaping policies with far-reaching humanitarian consequences.
 

 


Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Baku: Diplomatic source in Damascus

Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Baku: Diplomatic source in Damascus
Updated 12 July 2025
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Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Baku: Diplomatic source in Damascus

Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Baku: Diplomatic source in Damascus
  • Meeting marked major step for two countries which have been foes for decades

DAMASCUS: A Syrian and an Israeli official met face to face in Baku Saturday on the sidelines of a visit to Azerbaijan by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a diplomatic source in Damascus said.

The meeting marked a major step for the two countries which have been foes for decades, and comes after Israel initially cold-shouldered Al-Sharaa’s administration as jihadist because of his past links to Al-Qaeda.

“A meeting took place between a Syrian official and an Israeli official on the sidelines of Al-Sharaa’s visit to Baku,” the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Israel is a major arms supplier to Azerbaijan and has a significant diplomatic presence in the Caucasus nation which neighbors its arch foe Iran.

Al-Sharaa himself did not take part in the meeting, which focused on “the recent Israeli military presence in Syria,” the source added.

After the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria to prevent key military assets falling into the hands of the Islamist-led interim administration headed by Al-Sharaa.

It also sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone that used to separate the opposing forces in the strategic Golan Heights, from which it has conducted forays deeper into southern Syria.

Al-Sharaa has said repeatedly that Syria does not seek conflict with its neighbors, and has instead asked the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt its attacks.

His government recently confirmed that it had held indirect contacts with Israel seeking a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement which created the buffer zone.

Late last month, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel was interested in striking a peace and normalization agreement with Syria.

A Syria government source quoted by state media responded that such talk was “premature.”

But during a visit to Lebanon this week, US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said: “The dialogue has started between Syria and Israel.”

After meeting Al-Sharaa in Riyadh in May, US President Donald Trump told reporters he had expressed hope that Syria would join other Arab states which normalized their relations with Israel.

“(Al-Sharaa) said yes. But they have a lot of work to do,” Trump said.

During his visit to Baku, Al-Sharaa held talks with his counterpart Ilham Aliyev, the two governments said.

Azerbaijan announced it would begin exporting gas to Syria via Turkiye, a key ally of both governments, a statement from the Azerbaijani presidency said.