Efforts to reach a security pact between Syria and Israel have hit a last-minute snag over Israel's demand that it be allowed to open a “humanitarian corridor” to Syria's southern province of Sweida, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters on Friday.
Syria and Israel had come close in recent weeks to agreeing the broad outlines of a pact after months of US-brokered talks in Baku, Paris and London that accelerated in the lead-up to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.
The pact was intended to create a demilitarized zone that would include the province of Sweida, where sectarian violence in July killed hundreds of people from the Druze.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that concluding ongoing negotiations was “contingent on ensuring the interests of Israel, which include, inter alia, the demilitarization of south-western Syria and preserving the safety and security of the Druze in Syria.”
Netanyahu said on Sunday that there has been progress on a security deal with Syria, but an agreement was not imminent.
In earlier talks in Paris, Israel asked to open a land corridor to Sweida for aid, but Syria rejected the request as a breach of its sovereignty.
Israel reintroduced the demand at a late stage in the talks, according to two Israeli officials, a Syrian source and a source in Washington briefed on the talks.
The Syrian source and the source in Washington said the renewed Israeli demand had derailed plans to announce a deal this week. The new sticking point has not been previously reported.
The State Department, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syria's foreign ministry did not respond to questions on the contours of the deal or the sticking points.
US envoy Tom Barrack, who has been brokering the talks between Syria and Israel, said on Tuesday the longtime foes were close to striking a “de-escalation agreement” in which Israel would stop its attacks and Syria would agree not to move any machinery or heavy equipment near the border with Israel.”
He added that it would serve as the first step towards the security deal that the two countries have been negotiating. One diplomat familiar with the matter said it appeared that the US was “scaling down from a security deal to a de-escalation deal.”
Speaking shortly before Barrack at an event in New York, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa expressed concern that Israel may be stalling the talks.
“We are scared of Israel. We are worried about Israel. It's not the other way around,” he said.
A Syrian official told Reuters that conversations before the UN General Assembly began were “positive,” but there had been no further conversations with Israeli officials this week.
Addressing the General Assembly on Friday, Netanyahu said he believed an agreement could be reached with Syria that would respect its sovereignty and protect both Israel and the security of minorities in the region.
