Talks with Israel could lead to results ‘in days’, says Syria’s al-Sharaa

According to Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, “security discussions with Israel are necessary and could lead to outcomes in the coming days.”

Al-Sharaa, who led the effort that ended the nation’s 13-year conflict with former president Bashar al-Assad, made the remarks on Wednesday.

Israel responded to al-Assad’s overthrow by declaring that the 1974 security agreement with Syria had been broken, increased the amount of Syrian territory it controlled, and launched more airstrikes in Syria, which have resulted in the deaths of several Syrian soldiers over the past few months.

The United States has made an effort to broker a deal between Syria and Israel by backing Syria’s new authorities.

Al-Sharaa claimed, however, that the US had not pressed Syria to reach an agreement with Israel.

The Syrian president added that the Syrian government’s desire for peace with Israel must also respect Syria’s territorial integrity as well as Israel’s airspace, which Israel has repeatedly violated for years. Any agreement would need to be monitored by the UN, he added.

According to al-Sharaa, a security agreement might lead to the signing of other agreements, but there is no consensus on a possible normalization agreement between the two nations right now.

Israeli intervention

Israeli soldiers carried out searches in the towns of Saysoun and Jamlah in southeast Deraa on Sunday, the most recent ground invasion Israel made in Syria.

In an effort to reshape the 1974 agreement that came into being after the Israeli-Syrian conflict in 1973, al-Sharaa had confirmed that negotiations had already begun.

In that conflict, Syria was unable to retake control of the Golan Heights, which Israel had taken in 1967. Following the fall of al-Assad, Israel violated the 1974 agreement by seizing the buffer zone and surrounding areas. However, Israel violated the agreement.

Israel has also bombed Syria’s Ministry of Defense in July, including Damascus. In Suwayda that month, Israel supported local Bedouin tribal fighters and Syrian government forces that had been sent to put an end to the conflict between the Druze and the Bedouins.

Israel has interpreted that intervention as supporting the Druze, a minority group in Israel, and as a result of Israeli demands that Syrian government forces stay in areas south of Damascus and cross Israel’s border.

Despite the president of Syria renegating those associations, the Israelis have also emphasized al-Sharaa’s prior affiliation with al-Qaeda.

In exchange for an Israeli reversal of all land it has seized in Syria since December, aside from an outpost on Mount Hermon, Israel’s demands during negotiations with Syria included a demilitarized zone southwest of Damascus and a no-fly zone there.