Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R), who was nominated by President Trump to be ambassador to Israel, said he “applauds” the Biden administration's recognition that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
Israel announced on Tuesday that it had bombed more than 350 military sites in Syria in the past 48 hours, targeting “the majority of the country's strategic weapons stockpile.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a series of airstrikes into neighboring Syria were necessary to prevent the use of weapons against Israel following the stunning collapse of the Syrian government.
Israel also acknowledged that its troops were advancing into a border buffer zone inside Syria that was established after the 1973 Middle East war. However, Israel denied on Tuesday that its forces were advancing towards the Syrian capital Damascus.
Life in the capital was slowly returning to normal after jihadist-led Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend. People celebrated the third day in the central square, and shops and banks reopened.
The United States announced Tuesday that it recognizes and supports a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks, and protects the rights of minorities and women.
Nearly 500,000 people have been killed in Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, half of its pre-war population of 23 million has been displaced, and the country has become a proxy battlefield for regional and international forces.
“Israel is doing the right thing,” Huckabee told NewsNation.Report by Elizabeth Vargas. ”
“What Israel is doing is protecting its borders,” he said. “They are fighting a war on seven fronts. They are being attacked from the north, from the south, from the Iranians themselves, from the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.”
“It's coming from everywhere. So they have a right and a duty,” the former Republican governor said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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