Newsletters
Syria expects security negotiations with Israel to resume soon despite a lack of trust between the sides, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Reuters on Saturday, saying Damascus wants any agreement to lead to an end to Israeli attacks and withdrawal from Syrian territory.
The talks have been frozen since the start of the Iran war, and contact between Syria and Israel was cut after Israel struck Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase this week, al-Shaibani said.
“We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria,” he said. “But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it. We do not trust Israel currently.”
He said the U.S. was continuing efforts to pressure Israel to return to negotiations.
“I believe negotiations will resume soon,” al-Shaibani said, though no date has been set.
Washington has sought for more than a year to broker a security agreement between Israel and the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Al-Shaibani said the sides had “agreed on paper to almost everything” around the beginning of the year.
The proposed deal would require Israel to stop attacking Syria and would be linked to an Israeli withdrawal from territory seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
It would also establish several security zones on Syrian territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only the U.N. would be present and other areas where Syrian forces would deploy at varying levels.
Al-Shaibani accused Israel of avoiding implementation.
“We did not see they had the real will to reach an agreement,” he said.
Israel seized territory in southwestern Syria after Assad’s fall and struck numerous Syrian military sites, citing security concerns.
Al-Shaibani said Syria respected Israel’s security concerns but expected Israel to respect Syria’s concerns over Israeli use of Syrian airspace, raids and arrests in the south.
“Israel has tried to maintain its security through brute force, and it hasn’t succeeded anywhere," he said.
He added that Syria’s immediate priority was to “stop Israeli aggression even before reaching a security agreement.”
“Then perhaps we can open the topics of peace and the Golan,” he said.
Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war.
Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase Tuesday, saying Syria was preparing to allow Turkish forces to deploy there. Syria and Türkiye denied the claim.
Al-Shaibani said Israel carried out the strike even after Damascus conveyed that the facility would not become a Turkish base.
He said Syria relies on Türkiye for military training and cooperation while also receiving support from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Damascus was grateful for Türkiye’s role in rebuilding the Syrian military and “we won’t forgo support,” he said.
U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said Tuesday that Washington was working on a mechanism to prevent conflict among Israel, Türkiye and Syria.
Al-Shaibani said no agreement had yet been reached on the mechanism and that it should stop attacks and pave the way for a broader security agreement rather than “entrenching ... Israeli occupation.”
He said Syria was extending its hand “for understanding, for peace, for diplomacy," and regional stability, but added that it was “very hard to bet on Israel.”
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
2 min read
1 min read
