Sullivan appears to back Israel’s military operations in Syria

Speaking to the press in Tel Aviv, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan appears to endorse Israeli military actions in Syria.

“What Israel is doing is trying to identify potential threats, both conventional and weapons of mass destruction that could threaten Israel, and, frankly, threaten others as well, and neutralize those threats,” he says.

“That is part of its effort to protect the country in the midst of a very fluid situation,” Sullivan says, adding that the US is “in deep consultation with the Israeli government.”

Asked whether he believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the premier said Israel’s takeover of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights would be temporary, Sullivan says he takes Netanyahu at his word.

Sullivan says he is in Israel to “capitalize on the opportunity of the fall of Assad for a better future for the people of Syria, while vigilantly managing the risks that come with the change in Syria.”

He says that the US “remains vigilant against the continuing threat from Iran, including the threat from its nuclear program.”

“President Biden remains committed to the simple proposition that the United States of America will never commit Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” he says.

Addressing the White House transition to the Donald Trump administration, Sullivan says he has been “engaging my successor, the incoming national security advisor, in a professional and serious way on all of the issues that affect the State of Israel, the threats and the opportunities.”

He says the conversations have been “constructive and substantive.”

Sullivan also says it is his “personal commitment that the US-Israel partnership rests on a solid bipartisan foundation moving forward.”