Syria says Israel security pact could be sealed ‘within days’
President Ahmed al-Sharaa says talks aim to halt strikes and incursions but not a peace treaty
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa says talks with Israel on a new security deal could be finalised “in the coming days”.
Speaking in Damascus on Wednesday, Sharaa called the agreement a “necessity” for Syria but made it clear it would not be a peace treaty or normalisation. “This is neither peace nor normalisation,” he said.
The negotiations, backed by Washington, are focused on reviving parts of a 1974 deal that set up a UN-monitored buffer zone after the Yom Kippur War. Sharaa said any pact must “respect Syria’s aerial space and territorial unity.”
Since his forces ousted Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out over 1,000 airstrikes and 400 ground incursions in Syria. It has seized strategic positions, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, which officials in Jerusalem insist they will keep.
Sharaa said an Israeli strike near the presidential palace in July was “a declaration of war”, but Syria held back from responding to save the talks. He also revealed the two sides were just “four to five days” from a deal in July before clashes in Sweida derailed progress.
The Golan Heights – annexed by Israel in 1981 – has not yet been discussed. Sharaa called it “a big deal” for future talks.
Regional officials say the goal is to announce the deal before next week’s UN General Assembly in New York, where Sharaa will speak for the first time since taking power.
“Reaching an agreement is one thing,” he warned. “Getting Israel to abide by it is another.”
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