In early November, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, citing Israeli media outlets, that "12 American Jews visited the Syrian capital, Damascus, with the approval and protection of the Syrian regime, in a Syrian attempt to get out of isolation and improve its image. The Jewish tourist group numbered 6 men and 6 women.

Today, the American newspaper "The New York Times" revealed new details about the visit of a number of Jews earlier in the city of Damascus, which is controlled by the Assad regime.

The newspaper noted that the visit to Damascus was in fact a family trip and was not related to any party, noting that the Jew "Jagati" - holds Syrian citizenship while living in New York since 1996 and that he and his family speak Arabic since previously lived in and immigrated from Damascus.

The New York Times quoted Syrian journalist Issam Khoury as saying that the Assad regime was trying, through this visit, to send a message that it should be preferred over the rebels, in order to support the reconstruction of devastated Syria after more than 10 years of civil war.

According to press reports, the number of Jews living in Syria in the early 1950s reached about 30,000, most of whom immigrated to Israel after the Six Day War.

A number of local media outlets in Syria and Arab countries have previously claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met, at the end of last year, with a high-level Israeli-led Israeli delegation at the Khamim Air Force Base in northwestern Syria, which is under full Russian control. At this meeting they examined possible ways of rapprochement between Syria and Israel.