Rabia Iclal Turan
17 July 2025•Update: 17 July 2025
WASHINGTON
US lawmakers voiced concern about Israel's recent airstrikes on Syria, warning that the military escalation risks undermining a fragile stability in the war-torn country.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed alarm about the "uptick of violence" in Syria following Israeli strikes that hit Damascus and the southern province of Suwayda.
"This escalation could undermine and endanger Syria’s stability and derail progress made by Special Envoy Tom Barrack towards achieving normalization between Syria and Israel," she said in a statement.
Shaheen urged all parties, including Druze factions, Bedouin tribes, Israeli forces and the Syrian government, to "de-escalate immediately."
“We must all aim towards and support the path to a unified Syria that protects the interests of all citizens and can pursue peaceful relations with its neighbors,” she added.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American lawmaker, accused the Israeli government of acting as a “rogue” power in Syria.
"The Israeli government's rogue bombing of Syria must end. The same occupying power that ethnically cleansed Syrian Druze from the Golan is no protector," she wrote on X. "All Syrians deserve real safety. The Syrian government must end the violence, hold perpetrators accountable, and commit to an inclusive transition that protects all of Syria's diverse communities.”
The Israeli army launched airstrikes this week on the Syrian capital as well as Suwayda and Daraa on the pretext of protecting the Druze community. Another strike reportedly followed early Thursday on a Syrian military base. The Israeli army targeted the presidential compound, the General Staff Headquarters, and the Defense Ministry in Damascus, as well as positions in Suwayda and Daraa.
The Syrian Interior Ministry confirmed Wednesday that a ceasefire agreement was reached in Suwayda.
Following the ceasefire announcement, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy Tom Barrack wrote on X: “Thankful to all sides for their break from chaos and confusion as we attempt to navigate all parties to a more durable and peaceful solution in Syria.”
Republican Rep. from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, praised President Donald Trump for the diplomatic outcome.
“A tremendous foreign policy win by (President) Trump which prevented a complex multi front war that would have only helped ISIS and Iran,” Wilson wrote on X.
