Syrian President Claims Progress on Security Deal with Israel 

Syria and Israel are in “advanced” talks on a security agreement following decades of hostilities, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced this week, the Times of Israel reported. 

On Sunday, al-Sharaa told journalists in Damascus that negotiations were progressing, and a potential pact could be based on the 1974 disengagement lines agreed after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  

He said the deal would safeguard Syrian sovereignty and open the door to confidence-building measures. Though he cautioned that conditions were not yet suitable for a peace treaty, he said he would “not hesitate to take any agreement that benefits Syria and the region.” 

Reports in Israeli media outlined the terms of the draft. They called for demilitarizing the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, preventing Turkey from rebuilding Syria’s military, and barring strategic weapons such as missiles and air defense systems, according to Al Arabiya News. 

The potential agreement would also establish a humanitarian corridor to the southern Druze region of Sweida. The United States and Gulf nations would fund Syria’s reconstruction in exchange for limiting Iranian influence. 

The discussions follow several rounds of US-mediated talks, the most recent of which was held in Paris last week between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.  

Syrian state media has described the talks in the French capital “as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at enhancing security and stability in Syria and preserving the unity and integrity of its territory,” France 24 wrote. 

Israel and Syria have been technically in a state of war since 1948, with the Golan Heights remaining a flashpoint since Israel seized the territory in 1967 and annexed it in 1981, a move that was not recognized by the majority of the international community.  

Tensions rose after rebels under al-Sharaa overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad last year, prompting Israeli forces to expand their presence in southern Syria and strike infrastructure belonging to the ousted regime. 

Last month, Israel launched a series of airstrikes following sectarian clashes in Sweida to support local Druze fighters.