According to a video by Al Jazeera News on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in the shadow of bombed-out buildings and bitter memories, the Syrian people are watching the latest headlines with a mix of disbelief and rage.
As discussions of possible normalization between Syria and Israel surface in high-level talks, one Syrian official’s remark has captured the mood on the ground:
“They stormed our villages, arrested our children, and now talk peace?”
The comment, made anonymously to local media in Damascus, followed reports of recent Israeli raids deep into Syrian territory. These raids saw troops not only crossing the border but forcibly entering homes, arresting civilians, and allegedly detaining a child during one operation.
The raids, described by Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid as “brazen,” involved Israeli forces entering Syrian villages under the cover of air support, seizing individuals they claim are linked to Iranian cells. But Syrians tell a different story, one of harassment, fear, and humiliation.
“There is no difference between what happened this week and what we’ve endured for decades,” said another resident in southern Syria. “We thought the war was behind us, but the occupation feels stronger now than ever.”
This fury comes amid a major diplomatic shift. Last week, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order removing Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the U.S. terrorist list, marking the latest in a string of actions aimed at reshaping American policy in the Middle East. HTS, previously known as the Nusra Front, was once an al-Qaeda affiliate. Today, its former leader, Ahmed al-Shara, sits as Syria’s president, the result of a controversial but complete political transition.
Al-Shara is currently in the United Arab Emirates, meeting with leaders from Oman, Qatar, and other regional powers. Behind closed doors, diplomatic murmurs hint at what was once unthinkable: normalization of relations between Syria and Israel. The idea, reportedly discussed during recent Netanyahu-Trump talks in Washington, has left officials in Damascus walking a tightrope between political opportunity and public outrage.
But on the streets, the anger is visceral. For Syrians, the fresh raids underscore a bitter irony: while Western leaders push for diplomacy, Israeli forces are expanding their military presence, setting up more than 10 outposts in Syrian territory since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
“This is not peace. This is pressure with a smile,” said a Syrian analyst based in Beirut. “You cannot normalize relations when the people see occupation, arrests, and air raids. It won’t hold.”
Even for hardliners who now wear suits in parliament, the emotional weight of history remains. The mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, and their long refuge in Syria, is still deeply embedded in the Syrian consciousness.
Osama Bin Javaid reports that anti-Zionist sentiment remains deeply rooted, especially in Damascus. The Palestinian issue isn’t viewed as a separate concern. It is, in the words of one local reporter, “part of the Syrian soul.
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