The Senate has passed a largely performative rebuke of President Donald Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada, after four Republicans crossed the aisle for a 51-48 vote.

The resolution – which has practically no chance of making it through the House (and Trump would veto anyway), passed hours after Trump announced his so-called “Liberation Day” of worldwide tariffs, would end Trump’s emergency declaration on fentanyl trafficking used to justify tariffs on Canada, though both Canada and Mexico are exempt from Trump’s 10% baseline rate, while products subject to CUSMA/USCMA are exempt.

“Tariffs on imports from Canada are still set to rise on Thursday. Auto tariffs announced last week will still push the average U.S. tariff rate on imports from Canada to about 3.5% from 2.5% by our count,” said RBC’s Nathan Janzen and Claire Fan.

“That increase will still matter, but looks small now compared to dramatically higher tariffs set to be imposed on other countries.”

The four Republicans who joined all Senate Democrats were; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Following the vote, former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “As I have always warned, tariffs are bad policy, and trade wars with our partners hurt working people most.”

Trump has argued that Canada isn’t doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs from entering the USA. In 2024, CBP seized 43 lbs. of fentanyl in its northern border sector vs. 21,000 at the southern US border. Since January, authorities have seized less than 1.5 lbs in the north, according to federal data cited by AP.

“This is not about fentanyl. It’s about tariffs. It’s about a national sales tax on American families,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who initiated the resolution.

Democrats argued that Trump is using the tariffs to pay for proposed tax cuts that would benefit the wealthy, but will also make it more expensive to build homes, buy cars and pay for imported grocery products. Kaine pointed to aluminum imported from Canada that is used by businesses ranging from pie makers to shipbuilders. -AP

“Today, Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer to the American economy and even to the American dream,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who of course also had something to say, adding “Once the American people say, ‘I don’t want to embrace somebody, I don’t want to vote for somebody, I don’t want to support somebody who embraces Trump’s policies,’ things are going to change.”

During Wednesday’s presser, Trump singled out Canada as a chief beneficiary of “unfair” trading practices with the US despite not adding any new tariffs as part of the Lutnick plan.

“Why are we doing this? I mean, at what point do we say, ‘You’ve got to work for yourselves and you’ve got to’? This is why we have the big deficits,” said Trump.

Standing up for Trump were several Senate Republicans – who insisted that Canada’s punishment was more about fentanyl than the impacts of tariffs.

“There are unique threats to the United States at our northern border,” said Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said during a floor speech, adding that former President Joe Biden had “also thrown open the northern border. The criminal cartels noticed and they took advantage.”

“President Trump is taking the bold, decisive, swift action that is necessary to secure that border as well,” he continued.

* * *

You can support ZeroHedge with the purchase of a high-quality, sharp, ZeroHedge Multitool.

Now that the neocons/libs and Israel had their way with Syria, former dictator Bashar Al Assad has been replaced with… Al Qaeda.

So what now?

Visit the ZeroHedge homepage tonight at 7pm ET for our live Syria Debate with Pulitzer winner and Daily Beast reporter Roy Gutman who will face off against Antiwar.com editorial director Scott Horton. The debate will be moderated by David “Viva Frei” Freiheit.

Has the latest iteration of Middle Eastern regime change paid off or been a total disaster? A quick primer on Gutman’s interventionism and Horton’s isolationism:

Gutman: “Assad Must Go”

Horton: “America is back on the side of al-Qaeda… quite frankly, it’s treason.”

“America is back on the side of al-Qaeda… quite frankly, it’s treason.”

Watch Scott Horton and General Wesley Clark’s full discussion on Syria, Assad, Putin and more 👇

📺 https://t.co/tkQyaIE64N@piersmorgan | @scotthortonshow | @GeneralClark pic.twitter.com/vjCYp3fehP

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) December 10, 2024

We’ll see you at 7pm ET.

If you would like to listen to Scott take on another interventionist, check out his debate with historian Niall Ferguson on the war in Ukraine from December:

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

A copycat of alleged insurance executive assassin Luigi Mangione apparently harbored so much hatred toward large pharmacies that he targeted a Walgreens in California and fatally shot a vulnerable employee, police said. 

The accused perpetrator, Narciso Gallardo Fernandez, shot and killed Erick Valasquez inside a Walgreens in Madera, California during Velasquez’s shift in what investigators describe as a random attack, Madera Police Chief Gino Chiaramonte said. 

A chilling video widely shared on social media captured Gallardo Fernandez entering the Walgreens, waving his hands before firing at the camera.

He then targeted Valasquez, a husband and father of two young children. 

“He has generalized anger towards pharmacies through previous issues,” Chiaramonte said, according to local news outlet KSEE. 

In an apparent “Luigi style” shooting at a Walgreens in Madera, CA, 30-year-old Narciso Gallardo Fernandez murdered a father of two in cold blood due to a grudge against large pharmacies.

This is a deranged coward who deserves society’s deepest contempt and punishment. pic.twitter.com/VCvKvS90Ni

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 2, 2025

The unhinged man, who reportedly drove 80 miles to reach the Walgreens, also shot other store workers and customers as they fled. He was reloading his weapon when law enforcement approached him in the parking lot. 

“He not only point blank murdered the store employee Erick Velasquez, but the store manager and a female victim after the shooting fled out the front door and he turned and started shooting towards them,” Chiaramonte said. 

The police chief said the alleged gunman told officers that he knew it was over by the large presence of police, lights and sirens coming. 

Local resident Alexis Miller-Jones expressed shock at the harrowing incident, noting that she often visits the store with her 11-year-old child. 

“I’ve not seen anything to this magnitude in our town,” Miller-Jones told KSEE. “One time somebody busted in the doors and stole a bunch of cigarettes, but that was the biggest, this is a lot more scary.” 

Walgreens reacted to the killing in a press statement, stating:

“We are deeply saddened by last night’s tragic event, which resulted in the death of one of our team members. Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones during this difficult time.” 

The killing comes less than four months after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot by activist Luigi Nicholas Mangione in a New York City street. 

CCTV footage captured Mangione approaching Thompson and firing a 3D-printed pistol fitted with a 3D-printed suppressor in an assassination-style attack. 

Mangione now faces several state and federal charges for the murder, with the Trump-led DOJ seeking the death penalty. 

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

He hopes to strengthen the US’ supply chain sovereignty, renegotiate its ties with all countries with a view towards getting them to distance themselves from China, and shape the emerging world order.

Trump’s decision to tariff the entire world to varying extents as revenge for their tariffs against the US has shaken the global economy to its core. Instead of restoring free and fair trade like he claims to want, which would give American companies an advantage, he might inadvertently accelerate regionalization trends and the subsequent division of the world into a collection of trade blocs. Even in that scenario, however, he could still advance the three unstated goals that are responsible for this policy.

• The first is to strengthen the US’ supply chain sovereignty so as to eliminate the leverage that other countries have over it. This might not be pursued solely for the sake of it, but perhaps also as contingency planning, thus hinting at concerns about a major war. The two most likely adversaries are China and Iran, and a hot conflict with either would throw the global economy into turmoil. Trump might therefore want to prioritize reshoring in order for the US to preemptively minimize the consequences.

• The second goal builds upon the first and relates to the US prompting every country to renegotiate their bilateral ties, during which time the US could offer to reduce tariffs in exchange for certain concessions. These could take the form of distancing themselves from China to a degree and gradually replacing it with the US with their top trade partner. Other incentives could also be dangled such as technology-sharing and military deals. The purpose would be to weaken China by chipping away its foreign trade.

• And finally, the last goal is to shape the emerging world order, to which end the US had to speed up the end of the present one by shaking the global economy to its core like Trump just did. Obtaining supply chain sovereignty and replacing China as the top trade partner for as many countries as possible would give the US’ leverage over a sizeable portion of the world. While it’s premature to speculate the ways in which the US could exploit this, it’ll almost certainly be in the context of its systemic rivalry with China.

Even if Trump’s global trade war unintentionally turbocharges regionalization trends and the subsequent division of the world into a collection of trade blocs instead of serving as the unprecedented power play that he expects, the US could still take advantage of this to implement its “Fortress America” policy. This refers to the US restoring its unipolar hegemony over the Western Hemisphere, which would make it strategically autarkic if it receives preferential access to these countries’ resources and markets.

In that event, the US would survive and could even thrive even if it’s pushed out of the Eastern Hemisphere upon losing the major war that it might be planning or if the consequences thereof make that part of the world too dysfunctional for the US to manage, which could lead to the US returning to its 1920s-like isolationism. To be clear, the US is unlikely to voluntarily abandon the Eastern Hemisphere, but it would still make sense to plan for that possibility just in case circumstances compel it to do so.

All in all, Trump’s global trade war is an epochal event that’ll leave a lasting impact on International Relations regardless of its outcome, but it’s too early to say for sure exactly what’ll come from it. The only thing that can be said with any certainty is that Trump has a grand plan in mind even if he doesn’t ultimately achieve any of his goals, the three most likely of which were touched upon in this analysis. In any case, the old era of globalization is now over, but it remains to be seen what’ll replace it and when.

Following the significant decline in US Manufacturing ‘soft’ survey data (while hard data keeps rising with manufacturing jobs jumping most in years according to ADP), expectations for this morning’s Services Sector PMIs are mixed.

• S&P Global’s US Services PMI jumped from 15 month lows at 51.0 to 54.4 in March

• ISM Services PMI tumbled from 53.5 to 50.8 – its lowest since June 2024

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood of ISM was not pretty as Employment plunged into contraction (46.2) and New Orders dropped significantly (while Prices Paid saw some respite)…

Source: Bloomberg

Baffle ’em with bullshit is back…

Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, offered a silver lining after the Manufacturing survey’s slump:

“March saw a welcome rebound in service sector business activity after a weak start to the year, with employment also returning to growth after a decline seen in February. 

However, the rate of expansion remains below that seen throughout the second half of last year. [ZH: but still stronger than the rest of the world.]

Combined with a weak manufacturing reading for March, the survey data point to GDP having risen at an annualized rate of just 1.5% in the first quarter, down sharply from the 2.4% rate seen at the end of last year. 

But, it’s not all unicorns and rainbows:

“The focus turns to whether growth will also trend lower in the second quarter. 

In this respect, we note that some of the improvement in March reflected better weather, after adverse conditions dampened services activity in the first two months of the year at many companies. There’s a suggestion, therefore, that the expansion in March may exaggerate the true underlying growth momentum in the economy.

“This gloomier picture is supported by the PMI’s future activity index, which showed optimism edging lower again in March. 

Business sentiment is now the lowest since the end of 2022 barring only the heightened uncertainty seen ahead of last year’s Presidential election. 

“Companies report heightened concerns and uncertainty around the impact of political change, ranging from DOGE-related budget cutting to tariffs and the degree to which foreign demand may be affected by recent policy initiatives. 

Concerns have also risen in relation to costs, which rose in March at the fastest rate in nearly two years as firms across both services and manufacturing reported intensifying supplier-driven price hikes, fueled by tariffs.”

While less dramatic than the signal from Manufacturing suirveys, there is still the stench of stagflation as prices are soaring and growth is flagging.

Here come the price hikes…

European automakers are hiking prices and shifting production to the U.S. in response to Trump’s auto tariffs. Volkswagen will add import fees to vehicle prices, while Volvo and Mercedes-Benz are considering expanding U.S. manufacturing to avoid the 25% duties, according to Bloomberg.

German brands like BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes are especially exposed, but strong U.S. demand—particularly for SUVs—keeps the market attractive despite the rising costs.

Trump’s tariffs, which took effect Thursday, mark a “fundamental turning point in trade policy,” said Hildegard Müller, head of Germany’s auto lobby VDA. She warned the move would create “only losers,” including U.S. consumers facing “rising inflation and a reduced choice of products.”

The Bloomberg article says that Volkswagen notified U.S. dealers it will add import fees and temporarily pause shipments from Mexico and Europe, according to Automotive News. A spokesperson confirmed the memo but declined to elaborate.

The tariffs have already shaken the industry—buyers are rushing to make purchases, and shares of German automakers dropped sharply Thursday. Mercedes and Volkswagen fell over 3%, while BMW slipped as much as 4.3%.

Mercedes may move production of a model to Alabama to offset tariffs and is weighing pulling its cheaper cars from the U.S. after a 58% sales jump in its top-selling import, the GLC SUV. Germany’s economy minister backed EU talks with the U.S. but warned of a “clear and decisive response” if no deal is reached, calling the tariffs a risk to global stability.

Volkswagen, which builds cars in Tennessee, still imports key models from Europe and Mexico. The U.S. now makes up 20% of its revenue, helped by a 7% sales boost in 2024.

BMW imports 60% of its U.S. sales and depends on European parts for its South Carolina plant. Mercedes’ Alabama factory faces similar supply chain exposure.

Volvo plans to expand U.S. production, while Ferrari will hike U.S. prices up to 10%. British automakers warned Americans will likely pay more for iconic brands like Bentley and Mini.

“These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers,” said Mike Hawes of the UK’s auto trade lobby, “thus hitting U.S. consumers who may face additional costs and a reduced choice of iconic British brands.”

Over the last two months, DOGE actions have been attributed to 280,253 layoff plans of federal workers and contractors impacting 27 agencies, according to Challenger tracking. 

Another 4,429 job cuts have come from the downstream effect of cutting federal aid or ending contracts, impacting mostly Non-Profits and Health organizations.

The Government led all sectors in job cuts in March with 216,215, all of which occurred in the federal government. 

So far this year, the Government has cut 279,445, an increase of 672% from the 36,195 cuts announced in the first quarter of 2024.

March’s total is the third-highest monthly total ever recorded.

The highest monthly total occurred in April 2020 when 671,129 cuts were recorded, followed by May 2020 with 397,016. It is the highest total for the month of March on record, since Challenger began reporting on job cut plans in 1989.

“DOGE Impact” leads job cut reasons this year.

“Job cut announcements were dominated last month by Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] plans to eliminate positions in the federal government. It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs,” Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Companies’ hiring plans fell in March from 34,580 in February to 13,198. So far this year, companies plan to hire 53,867 workers, a 16% decrease from the 64,163 new hires announced in the first quarter of 2024. It is the lowest Q1 hiring total since 2012 when 52,540 new hiring plans were announced.

Meanwhile, according to the government’s official data, the labor market is awesome with only 219k Americans filing for jobless claims for the first time last week – a level that has been basically consistent for the last three years

Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa saw the biggest rise in initial jobless claims last week while Texas and Massachusetts saw the biggest decline…

And despite the surge in layoffs across the Deep ‘Tri-State’, initial jobless claims have been falling…

But continuing jobless claims broke out of its recent range and above its Maginot Line of 1.9 million Americans…

That is the highest since November 2021.

Continuing Claims across The Deep ‘TriState’ continue to rise…

So who are you going to believe – WARN notices, Challenger Grey, or the BLS?

Will tomorrow’s payrolls print be the tie-breaker?

Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,

The transgender shooter behind the 2023 Nashville elementary school attack that killed six people, including three children, had been planning it for years while struggling with mental health issues, according to a police report released Wednesday.

The nearly 50-page investigative case summary by Metro Nashville Police closes the agency’s probe into the shooting at the Christian, private Covenant School in March 2023.

Contrary to widespread media reports, the investigation said that no manifesto existed.

“In this case, a manifesto didn’t exist. Hale never left behind a single document explaining why she committed the attack, why she specifically targeted The Covenant, and what she hoped to gain, if anything, with the attack,” the Nashville police report states.

Instead, the shooter, Audrey Hale, left behind “a series of notebooks, art composition books, and media files created by Hale documenting her planning and preparation for the attack, the events in her life that motivated her to commit the attack, and her hopes regarding the outcome of the attack,” police determined. 

Hale, who once attended Covenant, was killed by police.

Hale identified as a man at the time of the attack, but the police report uses female pronouns. The report doesn’t refer to Hale as transgender.

“She began to use the name ‘Aiden Williams’ in the years prior to her death and used male pronouns on her social media and networking accounts. Nothing has been found to suggest she initiated or was undergoing a transition at the time of her death, including medical documentation,” the report states.

“During her autopsy following her death, it was determined she was biologically female.”

Factual, but not truthful. https://t.co/MLD8pGV61F pic.twitter.com/OvxojCPYNc

— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 2, 2025

Hale began receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on April 23, 2001, when the shooter was just six years old. She first fantasized about committing a mass shooting in November 2017, after watching documentaries about school shootings and “remembering her social struggles in middle school,” according to the Nashville police report.

By December 2018, Hale also began planning an attack at a different middle school where she had once been a student, the report says. Months later, her therapist became “concerned,” and recommended Hale take part in a psychological assessment at VUMC, according to the police report. That assessment occurred in June 2019.

“Based on records from the assessment, VUMC confirmed the mental health disorders Hale was already known to have and identified her depression and anxiety as the largest aggravating factors. They made no mention of psychosis and noted Hale denied having any plans to harm herself or others, nor the means to do so,” the Nashville police report states.

After her assessment, Hale participated in an eight-week “intensive outpatient program.”

“For a short period of time, the treatment seemed to work, as Hale’s writings tended to be more positive, and fewer mentions of depression and anxiety were present. She seemed more hopeful about life and the possibility of finding independence and success,” the police report states.

“But these feelings quickly faded, as the social and personal factors that drove her depression in the first place never left. Hale quickly sunk back into deep rage and despair.”

Hale continued to fantasize about school shootings for the next several years until she carried one out the morning of March 27, 2023. Hale’s shooting spree lasted about 20 minutes before police killed her.

Transgender Christian school shooter Audrey Hale began receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2001, when she was 6.

According to the Nashville police report released today, Hale first fantasized about committing a mass shooting in November 2017.

In 2019,… pic.twitter.com/rlDSRZCmXh

— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 2, 2025

“Due to the audible fire alarm, the earplugs she was wearing throughout the attack, and the sound of her own gunfire, Hale never heard the police officers as they entered the lobby behind her. One officer then fired a 5.56mm caliber rifle at Hale, striking her and knocking her to the ground,” the Nashville police report states.

“As the officers approached Hale to take her into custody, they saw she still had possession of her firearms and her arms were moving. A second officer fired a 9mm caliber pistol at her. She was fatally wounded by the officers’ gunfire.”

The people killed in the shooting at Covenant were: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old; Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.

The Tennessee Star still has an ongoing lawsuit to compel MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings. 

The Star reported Wednesday that it’s extended a settlement offer to FBI Director Kash Patel, who had called for Hale’s “manifesto” to be made public before he became director.

“FBI Director Kash Patel indicated that he would release Hale’s writings if made the agency’s director, and SNDM has extended a settlement offer that would see the lawsuit dropped in exchange for Patel dropping the agency’s opposition to their release around the time of his confirmation. The FBI has yet to respond to the offer,” the Star reported.

The evidence held by law enforcement on Hale includes more than 100 gigabytes of data, which includes over 900 pages of her writings.

President Trump’s late afternoon announcement on Wednesday—”Liberation Day“—unveiled a far more aggressive tariff policy than top Wall Street analysts had anticipated, prompting panic dumping in global equities and futures markets overnight.

Of particular concern is Trump’s stance toward China. The total effective tariff rate on Chinese imports surged to 54%, a dramatic increase of 34% from the previously imposed 20% in additional levies tied to fentanyl and earlier duties.

Trump’s Liberation Day has drawn swift condemnation from Beijing, which has described the escalating tariff war as “unilateral bullying.” 

Nikkei Asia quoted China’s Ministry of Commerce, warning that it “firmly opposes” Trump’s tariffs and “will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests.”

The Commerce Ministry noted that the US “ignored” the benefits of a global trading system, adding, “The so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ which are based on subjective and unilateral assessments by the United States, are not in line with the rules of international trade, seriously jeopardize the legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned, and are typical of unilateral bullying.” 

The ministry did not discuss specifics on the countermeasures. A ministry spokesperson told reporters that Beijing hopes to “resolve various issues through equal consultation.” 

In other words, it’s just a matter of time before Beijing mounts a countermeasure against the US, whether that’s targeted tariffs, export controls, or other measures (such as targeting US Big Tech). Or as we’ve recently seen: Beijing Derailing Panama Port Deal.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sang the same tune: China “firmly opposes” Trump’s trade war escalation, which “seriously undermines” the rules-based global trading system. He urged Washington to resolve trade differences through talks. 

However, President Trump tried that with the Chinese Communist Party in his first term with the so-called “Phase One” agreement. Beijing committed to purchasing $200 billion of additional US exports. Yet, the phase one deal with the CCP was derailed by Covid disruptions. 

The Trump administration’s goal with reciprocal tariffs against literally the entire world, including some cases of near triple-digit reciprocal tariffs that will lead to a historic emerging markets shock, is to reverse a half-century or more of de-industrialization policies in the US that have hollowed out the nation’s core and produced a national security threat as the world fractures into a bipolar state.

pic.twitter.com/fSHTQWcauf

— Crypto_Maximaliste (@Crypto__Maxi) April 2, 2025

In financial markets, the People’s Bank of China set the daily reference rate for the yuan at 7.1889 per dollar, weakening the currency. This allows the yuan to depreciate and support export competitiveness. A move like this will only draw accusations of currency manipulation from Trump.

“We maintain our view that the PBOC will not allow a sharp [yuan] depreciation given capital outflow risks and the government’s objective to restore confidence in the Chinese economy,” HK Mizuho Securities analyst Ken Cheung wrote in a note earlier.

Goldman analysts Andrew Tilton and others told clients:

On April 2, President Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners with exclusion of products that are subject to sectoral tariffs, resulting in what we estimate to be an increase of 26pp in the average effective US tariff rate on China, which would bring the total effective tariff rate on Chinese goods to 58%.

This is much higher than we and the market had expected. Similar to the experience when the previous two 10% tariff increases were imposed on China earlier this year, we think the Chinese government is likely to retaliate with some targeted tariffs on US products as well as non-tariff measures like export controls.

We expect policymakers to continue to resist significant CNY depreciation. We believe the government will step up easing measures to offset the additional growth drag from higher tariffs. We are not changing our 2025 full-year GDP growth forecast of 4.5% at this time due to better-than-expected Q1 data and increased policy easing expectations, as well as remaining uncertainties regarding whether some of the tariffs could be negotiated down in the coming months. That said, we acknowledge downside risk from slowing global growth after the large, across-the board US tariff increases.

S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ming Tan warned that Trump’s tariffs could exacerbate China’s weak economy:

“The drag on China’s economy from higher tariffs will transmit to banks. We expect problem loans will rise over the next few years and could leap as high as 6.4% of total loans in a downside scenario.”

Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, had a big-picture view for clients: “The era of Asia’s export manufacturing-led development has come to an end, and the region will need to develop markets closer to home.” 

Israel on Tuesday carried out several major airstrikes on Syria, including targeting the capital of Damascus, according to state agency SANA.

“An Israeli occupation airstrike targeted the vicinity of the building of the scientific research center in the Barzeh residential district of Damascus,” the outlet said. This area has been hit several times in recent years, as it conducted chemical weapons research under Assad.

Separate airstrikes rocked a military airport in Hamas, and reportedly the T4 airbase in Homs province, in central Syria (Syrian desert).

No causalities were initially reported, but some sources say they were particularly intense, with five airstrikes launched on the Hama air base in less than half an hour on Wednesday evening.

Regional war correspondent Elijah Magnier observers of the strikes:

After bombing Damascus, Israel also bombed Syria, Hama and the T4 airport, challenging Turkey, which was/is planning to establish a military air base at the same bombed airport.

Since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster on December 8, Israel has conducted literally hundreds of strikes on army bases, weapons storehouses, and alleged chemical weapons sites.

The timing of these fresh strikes is interesting especially given Turkey’s growing closeness to the new Jolani regime.

Israel airstrike on Hama military airport pic.twitter.com/ffRiv7zMoY

— ScharoMaroof (@ScharoMaroof) April 2, 2025

We earlier featured reporting which says Turkey is mulling the takeover of Syria’s T4 airbase, and could provide aircover to the new government, given it has no air protection to speak of. It appears Israel wants to ensure this doesn’t happen:

A source familiar with the matter told MEE that Turkey has begun moving to take control of the T4 air base, located near Palmyra in central Syria. “A Hisar-type air defense system will be deployed to T4 to provide air cover for the base,” the source said.

“Once the system is in place, the base will be reconstructed and expanded with necessary facilities. Ankara also plans to deploy surveillance and armed drones, including those with extended strike capabilities,” the same report said.

Israel sends a warning to Turkey by heavily striking bases across Syria, saying that Ankara shouldn’t try to prevent Israelis from flying over the airspace https://t.co/VlF5ewcsis

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) April 2, 2025

While Iran has long been Israel’s enemy number one in Syria, Turkey is increasingly being viewed from Tel Aviv as a dangerous regional rival, especially as it cozies up to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/AQ militants in Syria. Israel now wants to ensure it has complete dominance over Syria’s skies for the foreseeable future.