Security talks between Syria and Israel, brokered by the United States, resumed after a months-long hiatus, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported Monday. According to Damascus, these discussions focus in particular on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, overturned in December 2024.
The Syrian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and the head of the intelligence services Hussein al-SalamaSANA reported, citing a government source. Damascus presents the resumption of trade as an attempt to reaffirm "non-negotiable national rights" within a diplomatic framework sponsored by Washington.
The discussions focus on reviving the 1974 disengagement agreement, which established a UN-supervised buffer zone between Syria and Israel following the 1973 Middle East War. After the fall of Assad, Israeli forces advanced further beyond the border, while Israel also conducted operations it said were intended to protect the Druze minority in southwestern Syria.
Damascus is demanding an Israeli withdrawal to pre-December 2024 positions and wants to establish a reciprocal security framework guaranteeing its sovereignty and preventing any interference. A Syrian official indicated that the negotiations had been stalled since October, but that a possible shift in momentum was expected after a meeting on December 29 between US President Donald Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to this official, the Israeli withdrawal from the territories conquered after the fall of Assad constitutes a "red line" for Damascus. "We will not legitimize an Israeli presence in Syria"nor on the Golan Heights," he said, adding that Syria had been invited to consider a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops within a negotiated framework.
During previous rounds of discussions in Paris and at WashingtonSyria had argued for an arrangement modeled on the 1974 agreement, which had maintained a lasting ceasefire without leading to a formal peace. Israel, for its part, indicated that it would only accept an agreement on conditions guaranteeing its security imperatives, including the demilitarization of certain areas in southwestern Syria and the protection of minority communities, without publicly committing to a complete withdrawal to the pre-2024 lines.
