Israel’s Netanyahu, Dissenting Defense Minister to Visit Troops Together

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israel’s Netanyahu, Dissenting Defense Minister to Visit Troops Together

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, April 2, 2023. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Israeli troops together with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday, an aide said, signaling a possible reconciliation after Netanyahu announced Gallant's ouster last week without following through.

The March 26 announcement followed Gallant's public call on Netanyahu to pause a judicial overhaul plan that has triggered unprecedented nationwide demonstrations, with some military reservists saying they might refuse call-ups in protest.

Netanyahu eventually relented and suspended the contested reforms to allow for compromise talks with opposition parties.

Political sources said there have been efforts in recent days to end the rift between Netanyahu and Gallant, whose potential firing had set off alarms within the ruling Likud party, the armed services and among Israel's Western allies.

Two Israeli officials who requested anonymity said Gallant and Netanyahu would on Monday evening visit two military bases to toast troops for the Passover holiday. Details on such visits are generally not published in advance on security grounds.



Erdogan Says Won't Let Terror 'Drag Syria Back to Instability'

Syria's newly appointed president for a transitional phase Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, February 4, 2025. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)
Syria's newly appointed president for a transitional phase Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, February 4, 2025. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)
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Erdogan Says Won't Let Terror 'Drag Syria Back to Instability'

Syria's newly appointed president for a transitional phase Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, February 4, 2025. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)
Syria's newly appointed president for a transitional phase Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, February 4, 2025. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)

Türkiye will not allow extremists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after a suicide attack killed 22 at a Damascus church.

"We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria... be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations," he said, vowing to support the new government's fight against such groups.

He did not explain what he meant by "proxy" groups but vowed that Türkiye would "continue to support the Syrian government’s fight against terrorism", AFP reported.

The Damascus government blamed Sunday night's shooting and suicide attack -- the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since the fall of strongman Bashar al-Assad six months ago -- on ISIS militants.

It cast the attack as a bid to "undermine national coexistence and to destabilize the country", which only began emerging from the post-civil war chaos after Assad's ouster six months ago.

Türkiye was a key backer of the HTS who ousted Assad under the leadership of Ahmed al-Sharaa, now the interim president, and has repeatedly offered its operational and military to fight ISIS and other militant threats.