Mick Mulroy: Trump, Netanyahu aligned on keeping HTS out of Syria

In an interview for Al Mayadeen, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Michael Mulroy, stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "struck out and destroyed most of their military capacity" immediately after the fall of the al-Assad regime. He stressed that Netanyahu expanded the Israeli occupation forces' presence in UN-secured areas and "doesn't trust" HTS’s claims of reform, given its leader al-Jolani’s past as "the founder of Al-Qaeda in Syria." He also noted that the Trump administration has not engaged with HTS, hinting that "it's clear that they share that view." Therefore, the US is likely to support Netanyahu’s stance of maintaining a demilitarized zone in southern Syria.