Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu began on Sunday his new path towards Israel’s premiership by affirming that a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is not a priority, saying instead it would be part of a broader deal to be reached with Arab countries.
After Israel's president Isaac Herzog officially tapped him to form a government on Sunday, Netanyahu said he would now work on further peace deals to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, considering that additional peace agreements with Arab countries would be a prelude to ending the conflict with Palestinians.
He declared that his government would “keep Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel” and would work to fiercely fight terrorism, including acting decisively against Iran and preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
While offering the Likud party leader the mandate to form a government, Herzog said he was "not unaware" of Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, but that the High Court had ruled in the past that this was not a barrier to awarding Netanyahu the mandate.
Meanwhile, the media outlets of the Syrian regime announced on Sunday that Israeli airstrikes killed two Syrian soldiers and wounded three others when they slammed into the Shayrat Airbase, south of the city of Homs.
The outlets quoted an army statement saying the Israeli warplanes fired missiles after flying over the Tripoli-Hermel area, in the north of neighboring Lebanon.
London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said strong explosions were heard after four Israeli missiles hit the Shayrat airbase in Homs province.
It said the missile attack targeted several military positions of the Syrian regime and the Iran-backed fighters, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
