Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Israeli officials in Jordan in US-mediated talks aimed at reducing tensions after Israel attacked a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border, Syrian state media reported.
The discussions focused on mechanisms to halt Israeli attacks, arrests and targeting operations and on reviving negotiations for a lasting security agreement, according to Syria’s Sana news agency.
What the talks addressed
Sana, citing a diplomatic source, said the meeting included a high-level Israeli delegation. AFP reported that al-Shaibani met Roman Gofman, identified as the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Syrian officials said Damascus wanted Israel to withdraw to positions held before the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and to fully restore the 1974 disengagement agreement. They also reaffirmed Syria’s claim to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Related coverage: Tom Barrack walks back Golan remark, backing US recognition of Israel’s claim.
Why tensions rose
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Syria since Assad’s fall in December 2024 and sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel also bombed the Abu Duhur airbase in northwestern Idlib, saying the attack was intended to prevent Turkish troops from deploying there. Syria and Turkiye denied that justification, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan exchanged hostile remarks after the incident.
The positions each side brought
Sana said Syria stressed its sovereignty and its right to rebuild and develop its national army and choose alliances according to its national interests. Syrian officials rejected arrangements that would limit those rights.
Israeli media reported that Israel entered the talks with red lines including opposition to Turkish military activity in Syria, a demilitarised Syrian side of the Golan Heights, security for Syria’s Druze community and limits on Syria obtaining certain strategic weapons. Israel also tied any withdrawal from territory it occupies in Syria to diplomatic achievements.
What happens next
Earlier US-mediated negotiations had produced agreement on paper for a joint intelligence-sharing and tension-management mechanism, as well as proposed security zones in southern Syria and a buffer zone with only UN forces present. Those negotiations froze at the end of February, when the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, and no resumption date had been set.
Al-Shaibani said before the meeting that Damascus did not trust Israel but that diplomacy remained possible. He also said Syria had cut off contact after the Abu Duhur attack, while noting that the two sides had agreed on paper to almost everything around the beginning of the year.
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