STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news now. The United Nations Security Council meets today to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Yesterday, Israel hit the Syrian military headquarters with airstrikes, as well as areas close to the presidential palace in Damascus. It is a significant escalation against the country's new government that took power at the end of a long civil war. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. is, quote, "very concerned" and is trying to negotiate a solution.
INSKEEP: NPR's Ruth Sherlock has been following this situation. Ruth, good morning.
RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK, our colleague Daniel Estrin tried to bring us up to date on this, something of a surprise here. I get the sense that there was some confused fighting near Israel but in Syria. What happened?
SHERLOCK: That's right. Well, the Syrian military got drawn into what started as a local fight in southern Syria and Sweida between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes there. And the clashes there have been intense, as you can hear when we spoke with Hossam Kotroban, an English teacher there.
HOSSAM KOTROBAN: Well...
(SOUNDBITE OF MISSILE EXPLODING)
KOTROBAN: Oh, OK. You hear the bombing. If I want to pass away, I will pass away in my home, in my house. And I will defend it to the last breath.
(SOUNDBITE OF WEAPON FIRING)
SHERLOCK: And Israel intervened on behalf of the Druze minority, bombing Syrian military positions, including those that you mentioned in Damascus. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa was on Syrian state television today trying to repair relations with the Druze community in Syria, saying they're an integral part of the country. And he accused Israel of sowing division and trying to turn Syria into a theater of chaos.
INSKEEP: OK, well, if there is this conflict within Syria, it seems, why is Israel intervening?
SHERLOCK: Well, one reason is, you know, there are Druze in Syria and there are Druze communities in Israel, too. And they're seen as being a loyal community. Some serve in the military. But, Steve, I want to be clear that this is also really strategic for Israel. At the heart of it, Israel doesn't trust Sharaa's government, which is Islamist, doesn't want Sharaa's Syrian army to get any closer to the Israeli border. And Israeli military officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, have said that Israel is trying to enforce a demilitarized zone in southern Syria near Israeli-controlled territory. And that sounds similar to what it's been doing in Lebanon, following clashes with the Hezbollah militia there.
INSKEEP: Well, I want to figure out where the United States fits here because the United States was trying to bring Israel and Syria's new government closer together. What's the U.S. doing now?
SHERLOCK: Well, it puts the U.S. in quite a tough position. You know, there does seem to be some daylight here between the U.S. and Israeli positions on Syria. Israel often characterizes Syria's new rulers, as I said, as being kind of Islamists, thinks of them as barely disguised jihadists. Ahmad al-Sharaa, the interim president, was in an organization previously linked to al-Qaida. But now the U.S. administration is working with him while the Israelis remain deeply mistrustful.
Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, has tried to frame this latest escalation as a, quote, "misunderstanding." And yesterday, there was a ceasefire deal announced to end the fighting in southern Syria. And there are reports that the Syrian troops are withdrawing from these parts of Syria, as Israel wants. But this is clearly very fragile. And, you know, this is already the third attempt at a ceasefire in recent days.
INSKEEP: Really complicated and confusing situation, but you made it less so. NPR's Ruth Sherlock. Thanks so much.
SHERLOCK: Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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