Beirut (AP) – Syrian Foreign Minister is a Rare meeting with the Israeli delegation in Paris Syrian state news agency reported on Tuesday. The talks were mediated by the US, which Syria and Israel are pushing to normalize relations, the report said.
Sana News Agency said Foreign Minister Assad al-Shabani will meet with Israeli officials to discuss the removal of tensions and the recovery of the 1974 ceasefire agreement.
Syrian officials have confirmed that they held indirect consultations with Israel to ease tensions. There was no immediate confirmation of such a meeting from Israel.
Tensions spiked between two neighbouring countries after Syrian President Bashar Assad overthrowed in December. Israeli forces seized control of Syria’s unpatrol buffer zone shortly after Assad capitulated, and launched airstrikes at military facilities after officials said to create a demilitarized zone south of Damascus.
Israel said it would not allow hostile forces to establish themselves along the frontier, as did Iran-backed groups during Assad’s control. It distrusts Syrian new government led by former Islamist rebels.
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara, a former al-Qaeda commander who cut ties with extremist groups a few years ago, has pledged to build a new country that respects the rights of minorities, but sectarian violence has erupted on many occasions, raising concerns about the country’s fragile transition.
Israel has stepped up its intervention Violence broke out in Syria’s province of Sweida last month Between Bedouin clans and government forces on one side and armed groups from the other religious minority.
Then a conflict was spurred Israeli air bombing against Syrian forces Defending the pre-cease Druze, mediated by the US, Türkiye and Arab countries – halted most combat.
Israel said it is acting to protect the His druze is considered a loyal minority of Israel They often serve the army. Israel launched dozens of airstrikes on Syrian convoys around Sweida, attacking the headquarters of the Syrian Ministry of Defense, located in the heart of Damascus, Syrian capital.
Israel seized the Golan height from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed the strategic plateau in a move that was later recognized only by the United States. The rest of the international community sees Golan as occupied Syrian territory.
