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A Syrian and an Israeli official met face to face in Azerbaijan’s capital on Saturday, marking a rare and significant step between the two longtime adversaries, a diplomatic source in Damascus said.
The meeting, held on the sidelines of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s official visit to Baku, was reportedly focused on Israel’s ongoing military operations in Syria. Sharaa, who did not attend the meeting, has previously denounced Israeli strikes targeting military infrastructure across southern Syria.
“A meeting took place between a Syrian official and an Israeli official on the sidelines of Sharaa’s visit to Baku,” the source told reporters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since the December ouster of regime leader Bashar al-Assad, aiming to prevent weapons and equipment from falling into the hands of the new interim administration led by Sharaa. It has also deployed troops into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, declaring the decades-old 1974 Disengagement Agreement defunct.
Sharaa, who assumed office in January following the collapse of Baath Party rule, has publicly called for an end to Israeli attacks and expressed interest in returning to the 1974 agreement. His administration recently confirmed indirect contacts with Israel on the matter.
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The rare dialogue follows statements last month by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressing interest in normalizing ties with Syria. A Syrian official quoted by state media dismissed the remarks as “premature,” but U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack confirmed last week in Lebanon that “dialogue has started between Syria and Israel.”
Following a meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh in May, U.S. President Donald Trump said the Syrian leader was open to normalizing relations with Israel but added, “They have a lot of work to do.”
During his Baku visit, President Sharaa met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss energy cooperation and regional partnerships.
The Azerbaijani presidency announced that the two countries had reached an agreement to export natural gas to Syria via Türkiye. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and the Syrian government.
“An agreement was signed with SOCAR regarding the supply of natural gas to Syria, a step toward energy independence and building strategic partnerships that serve the nation and its citizens,” Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said in a post on X.
Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister and SOCAR’s Supervisory Board Chair Mikayil Jabbarov co-signed the deal with Bashir.
The gas deal comes as Syria grapples with daily power outages lasting more than 20 hours amid widespread infrastructure damage caused by years of civil war and foreign intervention.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Aliyev had assured him that Azerbaijan was “ready to provide all kinds of support on natural gas to Syria.”
Sharaa’s visit to Baku was his first official trip to Azerbaijan since assuming office. Both governments hailed the talks as a significant step in rebuilding Syria’s economy and regional relations after more than a decade of war.
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