ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Damascus and Tel Aviv on Monday resumed talks after a four-month pause, Syrian state media reported, saying the negotiations - mediated by Washington - are focusing on de-escalating tensions along their shared borders and involve high-level diplomatic and intelligence officials from Syria.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited a government source as saying the Syrian delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Hussein al-Salama, chief of Damascus’s General Intelligence Directorate, who are “participating in the current round of negotiations with the Israeli side, coordinated and mediated by the United States of America.”
The resumption of talks, the source said, “affirms Syria’s steadfast commitment to restoring non-negotiable national rights,” adding that they fall within “the framework of a balanced security agreement that places full Syrian sovereignty above all considerations and guarantees the prevention of any form of interference in Syrian internal affairs.”
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1974, a US-brokered Disengagement Agreement established a buffer zone monitored by the United Nations, aimed at reducing tensions by delineating separation lines between Syrian and Israeli forces without establishing formal peace.
More recently, following the ouster of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in early December 2024, Israel has intensified efforts to destroy Damascus’s military stockpiles. Israeli forces have also entered buffer zones east of the Golan Heights, citing concerns that security vacuums could be exploited by “radical elements” linked to the Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda, and Iran-aligned armed groups.
According to SANA, the current round of talks is focused on “reactivating the 1974 Disengagement Agreement” and “ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the pre-December 8, 2024 [border] lines.”
American news website Axios, citing an Israeli official and another source familiar with the matter, reported on Sunday that senior Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet in Paris on Monday for a round of talks to discuss “a new security agreement.”
The engagement follows a meeting in August between Syria’s Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, and Ron Dermer, Israel’s then minister for strategic affairs and a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Paris.
With Dermer’s resignation in November, Israeli media reported on Monday that the delegation representing Tel Aviv includes Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States and a close confidant of Netanyahu. The delegation is also reported to include Major General Roman Gofman, a senior military aide to the Israeli premier and the official nominee to become Israel’s next intelligence chief, as well as Gil Reich, Israel’s acting national security adviser.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) cited a government source as saying the Syrian delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Hussein al-Salama, chief of Damascus’s General Intelligence Directorate, who are “participating in the current round of negotiations with the Israeli side, coordinated and mediated by the United States of America.”
The resumption of talks, the source said, “affirms Syria’s steadfast commitment to restoring non-negotiable national rights,” adding that they fall within “the framework of a balanced security agreement that places full Syrian sovereignty above all considerations and guarantees the prevention of any form of interference in Syrian internal affairs.”
Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1974, a US-brokered Disengagement Agreement established a buffer zone monitored by the United Nations, aimed at reducing tensions by delineating separation lines between Syrian and Israeli forces without establishing formal peace.
More recently, following the ouster of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in early December 2024, Israel has intensified efforts to destroy Damascus’s military stockpiles. Israeli forces have also entered buffer zones east of the Golan Heights, citing concerns that security vacuums could be exploited by “radical elements” linked to the Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda, and Iran-aligned armed groups.
According to SANA, the current round of talks is focused on “reactivating the 1974 Disengagement Agreement” and “ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the pre-December 8, 2024 [border] lines.”
American news website Axios, citing an Israeli official and another source familiar with the matter, reported on Sunday that senior Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet in Paris on Monday for a round of talks to discuss “a new security agreement.”
The engagement follows a meeting in August between Syria’s Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, and Ron Dermer, Israel’s then minister for strategic affairs and a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Paris.
With Dermer’s resignation in November, Israeli media reported on Monday that the delegation representing Tel Aviv includes Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States and a close confidant of Netanyahu. The delegation is also reported to include Major General Roman Gofman, a senior military aide to the Israeli premier and the official nominee to become Israel’s next intelligence chief, as well as Gil Reich, Israel’s acting national security adviser.
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