Iran war live: Trump denies Iran talks, Tehran claims US ‘begging’

Abdul Karim al-Omar, a political analyst, says the US has the tools to halt Israeli strikes on Syria entirely, but has so far declined to fully use them.Speaking from Damascus, al-Omar told Al Jazeera that US intervention at the last moment prevented a broader clash between Turkiye and Israel following the recent attack on Abu al-Duhur military airport.“Israel informed the American side that Syria was strengthening its military capacity, and passed intelligence information to Washington,” al-Omar said. “That’s why Israel carried out this strike after informing Washington.”Al-Omar pointed out that the attack relied on a pretext Israel knew to be untrue.“It knows full well there are no Turkish forces at the airport, or near the airport,” he said, pointing out that Turkish forces in Syria are based further north, in Idlib and Aleppo.He added that Israel’s justification for the attack (concern over Syrian military rebuilding) is undermined by the fact that Israel itself destroyed Syria’s military infrastructure following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.“There’s no air defence system, no missile system, no aircraft, nothing at all,” al-Omar said. “All of it was destroyed by Israel.”Al-Omar suggest that while Washington wants “a secure, stable, unified Syria” as a regional partner, Israel “doesn’t want a secure or a stable Syria” and continues to seek pretexts, including Turkish presence, southern militias, and buffer zones, to justify ongoing attacks.