Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday night ongoing talks on a security pact with Damascus.
“Negotiations are underway with Syria. Their conclusion involves ensuring Israel’s interests, which include, among other things, the demilitarization of southwestern Syria and maintaining the safety and security of the Druze in Syria,” said Netanyahu.
The premier on Sunday dismissed reports that Jerusalem was willing to give up the country’s buffer zone in Syria as part of a deal with the new regime in Damascus.
The idea is a “joke,” Netanyahu said in a recording on X.
“I’ll tell you what we’re discussing. We’re discussing with Syria something that wasn’t even imaginable before our great victory over Hezbollah. We’re discussing a security arrangement in which they demilitarize southwest Syria, and we ensure the security of our Druze allies in Jabal al-Druze,” added Netanyahu.
On Monday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa rejected the possibility of his country joining the Abraham Accords. Speaking with former CIA director David Petraeus at the Concordia Annual Summit in New York City, al-Sharaa said he was focused on restoring the 1974 disengagement agreement in the Golan Heights.
“Those who are parties to the Abraham Accords are not neighbors to Israel,” al-Sharaa said. “Syria, as a neighbor, has been subjected to over 1,000 raids, strikes and Israeli incursions in Syria from the Golan Heights, and many were killed.”
The Syrian president also said that there is “a huge anger” among Syrians about the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza.
“We just had our revolution, we are trying to be the voice of the people,” al-Sharaa said. “In this new era, there are different phases of negotiations with Israel, and to go back to the truce of 1974, if there are any security fears, there are mediators, like the United States, that could calm the fears.”
Nevertheless, al-Sharaa said last week that the ongoing negotiations may soon yield a formal agreement.
