Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party says Israel “will be at war with Syria sooner or later.” In radio interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, Chikli links the prospect of conflict to his assessment that Syria’s new leadership cannot coexist peacefully with Israel. He refers to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government as a jihadist regime connected to Isis and al-Qaeda, and he argues that its purported aim to unify Jerusalem makes peaceful relations impossible.

Chikli also describes a broader regional threat he calls a “radical Sunni axis of evil,” which he says consists of Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar. He portrays this emerging grouping as more worrying than Iran, including in the context of an Iran–US ceasefire deal. In his remarks, he characterizes Pakistan and Turkey as part of the axis and describes Qatar as a public-relations backer for jihadist groups.

The comments come amid reported rising tensions between Israel and Turkey, which Chikli says has “clear ambitions” and established a “Turkish protectorate” in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Israel’s actions in Syria and Lebanon, and Turkish officials have made remarks related to Jerusalem.