Syria and Israel held high-level, US-mediated talks in Jordan on Sunday aimed at easing tensions following recent Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, Syria's state news agency SANA reported, citing a diplomatic source at the foreign ministry.
The talks focused on practical mechanisms to halt Israeli strikes, arrests and targeted operations, and on reviving negotiations towards a security agreement that could lay the groundwork for a broader future accord, SANA said.
The two sides also discussed efforts to ease tensions between Israel and Türkiye and to prevent their rivalry from spilling onto Syrian territory.
A diplomatic source and a Syrian government source told AFP that Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency Roman Gofman.
Shaibani told Reuters on Saturday that Damascus expected security negotiations with Israel to resume soon, although he added that there was a lack of trust between them.
Talks had been suspended since the start of the Iran war, while Syria cut off contact entirely after Israeli strikes on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase last week, according to Shaibani.
Washington has for more than a year sought to broker a security agreement between Israel and the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Shaibani said the two sides had agreed on paper to “almost everything” around the beginning of the year, including arrangements for security zones in southern Syria and a buffer zone where only United Nations forces would be present, but Damascus doubted Israel's willingness to implement the agreement.
The Israeli prime minister's office did not reply to a request for comment on Shaibani's remarks.
At Sunday’s meeting, SANA said, Syria indicated that its immediate priorities remained an Israeli withdrawal to positions held before Bashar al-Assad's overthrow on December 8, 2024, and the full restoration of a 1974 disengagement agreement.
Damascus also told the Israeli delegation it would not accept arrangements restricting its right to rebuild and develop its armed forces or determine its alliances and partnerships, SANA said.
Syria reiterated that the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were Syrian territory but said discussions over the region's final status were premature, according to the SANA report.
Israel has carried out repeated strikes on Syrian military sites since Assad's fall, saying its actions were necessary to protect its security.
Syria has denied posing a threat to Israel and has demanded an end to Israeli strikes and incursions.
Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, a move recognized by the United States but not by most of the international community.
Security agreement
In his interview with Reuters on Saturday, Shaibani said Syria respected Israel's security concerns, but that Israel must respect those of Syria, including Israel's use of its airspace, Israeli raids and arrests in the south.
He said that around the beginning of the year, the sides had "agreed on paper to almost everything" regarding a security deal that would require Israel to stop attacking Syria and was tied to its withdrawal from territory seized after Assad fell.
The deal would include several security zones in Syrian territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present, and others where Syrian forces would deploy in varying degrees of force.
But he said Israel had sought to evade implementation, adding: "We did not see they had the real will to reach an agreement."
The priority now is to "stop Israeli aggression even before reaching a security agreement", Shaibani said. "Then perhaps we can open the topics of peace and the Golan."
US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that Washington was working to establish a mechanism to prevent conflict among Syria, Türkiye and Israel.
Shaibani said there was no agreement yet on the mechanism, which he said must stop attacks and pave the way for the security deal rather than "entrenching ... Israeli occupation."
Shaibani said negotiations over the security agreement had been frozen since the start of the Iran war, but he expected them to restart. Contact between Syria and Israel was cut after the airbase strike, he said.
"We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it," Shaibani said. "We do not trust Israel currently."
"Israel has tried to maintain its security through brute force and it hasn’t succeeded" anywhere, Shaibani said. "I believe negotiations will resume soon."
No date has been set.
"The US is trying continuously to put pressure on Israel to return to the dialogue table," he added.
Asked how optimistic he was, Shaibani said: "It’s very hard to bet on Israel." But Syria had "very great hope" of building stable relationships with its neighbors.
"Syria is extending its hand for understandings, for peace, for diplomacy" and regional stability.
