Donald Trump was “caught off guard” by Israeli strikes on Syria last week, the White House has said, adding that the US president called Benjamin Netanyahu to “rectify” the situation.
Israel launched strikes on the capital Damascus and the southern Druze-majority city of Sweida last week, saying it aimed to put pressure on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from the region amid ongoing clashes there.
Trump “was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.
“In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,” she continued.
An Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church last week, killed three people and injured 10 others including the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.
The Israeli prime minister called Pope Leo to express regret over the strike on the Gaza church, blaming a “stray missile.”
Netanyahu visited the White House earlier this month, his third trip since Trump returned to power in January, and Leavitt praised his relationship with the president, adding they were in “frequent communication.”
Israel and Syria on Friday began a US-brokered ceasefire and on Monday, Syrian authorities evacuated Bedouin families from Sweida.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the ceasefire was largely holding despite isolated gunfire in areas north of Sweida city, with no new reports of casualties.
Last week’s clashes in the southern province killed more than 1,260 people, according to the war monitor, and have shaken the rule of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has pledged to protect minorities in a country devastated by 14 years of war.
In May, Trump met with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia and announced the lifting of many longstanding US sanctions against Damascus.
Trump later praised the leader, who led a major armed group that was once aligned with al-Qaida and toppled the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad in December.
The United States removed a bounty on Sharaa after he came to power.
With Agence France-Presse
