Israel PM Netanyahu says spoke with Syria’s President al-Sharaa

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had previously spoken with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in his first acknowledgment of direct contact.

Speaking at an election rally with Israel’s Druze community, Netanyahu made reference to a bloody attack suffered by the Druze in Syria in July 2025. “I called al-Sharaa. It was a very short, very sharp conversation, and the slaughter stopped,” Netanyahu said, according to footage aired by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN.