{"id":88706,"date":"2025-07-17T13:07:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=88706"},"modified":"2025-07-17T08:08:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:08:50","slug":"what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"k1PEbOnsDEXyE7DrWEK\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FRANCE 24&#8217;s Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that &#8216;what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south&#8217; and is a message to Syrian minority groups that &#8216;their only leverage is the weapons they have&#8217;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1076,1539],"tags":[37801,4646,523,33765],"class_list":["post-88706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world","tag-consolidating-power","tag-damascus","tag-israel","tag-south","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#039; - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FRANCE 24&#039;s Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that &#039;what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south&#039; and is a message to Syrian minority groups that &#039;their only leverage is the weapons they have&#039;.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#039; - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FRANCE 24&#039;s Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that &#039;what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south&#039; and is a message to Syrian minority groups that &#039;their only leverage is the weapons they have&#039;.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":22,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"consolidating power\",\"Damascus\",\"Israel\",\"south\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/\",\"name\":\"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South' - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that 'what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south' and is a message to Syrian minority groups that 'their only leverage is the weapons they have'.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South'\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8216;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South' - GuardianTV","description":"FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that 'what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south' and is a message to Syrian minority groups that 'their only leverage is the weapons they have'.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South' - GuardianTV","og_description":"FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that 'what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south' and is a message to Syrian minority groups that 'their only leverage is the weapons they have'.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"&#8216;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#8217;","datePublished":"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/"},"wordCount":22,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg","keywords":["consolidating power","Damascus","Israel","south"],"articleSection":["News","World"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/","name":"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South' - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-17T13:07:48+00:00","description":"FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Nanar Hawach, senior analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, about the sectarian violence in Syria and the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus. He says that 'what Israel is doing is a clear signal to Syrian authorities against consolidating power in the south' and is a message to Syrian minority groups that 'their only leverage is the weapons they have'.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2025\/07\/What-Israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-Damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-South.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"'What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South'"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/what-israel-is-doing-is-a-clear-signal-to-damascus-against-consolidating-power-in-the-south\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8216;What Israel is doing is a clear signal to Damascus against consolidating power in the South&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}