CNN
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Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Friday.
The deal was “embraced” by Turkey, Jordan and other neighboring countries, the ambassador, who also serves as the US special envoy to Syria, said in a post on X.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors,” Barrack said.
Neither party immediately commented on the reported deal.
The ceasefire comes after Israel launched airstrikes at Syria on Wednesday, which Israel said were aimed at protecting the Druze, an Arab religious minority. Clashes between pro-government forces and the Druze have killed scores of people since the fall of Syria’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
Israel’s airstrikes on Damascus targeted several government buildings, with authorities saying at least three people were killed. One video from a Syrian television channel showed the Ministry of Defense building being hit live on air, forcing the anchor to take cover.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday night local time that the Syrian army started withdrawing from Suwayda, where clashes erupted over the weekend between Druze militia and Bedouin tribes, prompting government forces to intervene. Al-Sharaa’s government also announced a new ceasefire with the Druze factions.
In that same televised address, al-Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to divide the Syrian people and turn Syria “into a battlefield of chaos.”
The US has voiced concern over the increased tensions and has made a recent diplomatic push to resolve the conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday to discuss the matter, according to a readout of the call from the Turkish foreign ministry.
Rubio previously said on Wednesday night that all parties to the conflict had agreed to “specific steps” to resolve the situation.
“This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do,” Rubio said on X.
Amos Yadlin, a former major general and chief of Israeli Military Intelligence, said Friday on CNN’s “The Brief with Jim Sciutto” that that involvement of all the players – including Turkey, Israel, and Jordan – is “making a lot of sense.”
“The question is how the people on the ground will behave, whether the retaliations of the two communities will stop,” Yadlin said.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Katrina Samaan contributed to this report.
