Syria, Israel in direct safety talks, soothing tensions – Israel News

Israel and Syria have been in direct contact and have organized face -to -face meetings in recent weeks aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflicts in the border region between the two long -standing enemies, five people familiar with the case said.

Contacts mark an important evolution of the links between the states which are on the opposite sides of the conflict in the Middle East for decades because the United States has encouraged new Islamist leaders from Damascus to establish relations with Israel And Israel softens its bombing of Syria.

They are also based on rear channel talks via intermediaries since the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham Islamist rebels overthrew the very Syrian man Bashar al-Assad in December, two Syrian sources and two Western sources said, as well as a regional information source with the problem.

The sources spoke under the cover of anonymity due to the subject’s sensitivity for two nations without official links and the history of enmity. Direct talks and their scope have not been reported before.

On the Syrian side, the sources said that the contacts had been led by a senior security official Ahmad al-Dalati, who was appointed governor of the province of Quneitra, who borders the Golan Heights occupying by Israeli, after the fall of Assad. Earlier this week, Dalati was also responsible for security in the southern province of Sweida, which houses Druze minority of Syria.

Reuters could not determine who participated in the Israel teams, although two of the sources said they were security officials.

Three of the sources said that there had been several cycles of meetings in person in the border region, particularly in territory controlled by Israel.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel and Syrian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Confirmed mediator of water between Israel, Syria

Earlier this month, Syrian acting president Ahmed Al-Sharaa Confirmed indirect talks with Israel who, according to him, aimed to calm tensions, a striking admission which followed a report of reuters according to which the water featured such discussions.

Israel has occupied the Syrian heights of Golan since the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 and took more territory in the aftermath of Assad’s eviction in December, citing persistent concerns about the extremist past of the new leaders of the country.

He also carried out an air bombing campaign which destroyed a large part of the country’s military infrastructure, while putting pressure on Washington to keep the country weak and decentralized.

But bombing and criticism have calmed down in recent weeks.

On May 14, a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Sharaa in Riyadh upset decades in American American policy and reported to the right -wing government of Israel that he should work to achieve understanding with Sharaa.

The regional intelligence source described Trump’s commitment with Sharaa as a central part of realignment in American policy which has upset the post-Assad strategy of Israel to exploit the fragmentation of Syria.

Wider understanding?

The relative calm in May also saw a reduction in tensions around Sweida, which has seen bloody clashes Between the armed factions of Druze, some of which appreciate Israeli support and Sunni Muslim fighters last month.

In the midst of violence, Israel had launched a series of air strikes, including one right outside the presidential palace overlooking Damascus, which he formulated as a warning on threats against the Druze, a branching of Islam with members in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Although direct talks are currently focusing on joint security, such as conflict prevention and the reduction of Israeli incursions in Syrian border villages, two of the sources said they could help open the way to a broader political understanding.

“For the moment, they concern peace, as in the absence of war, rather than standardization,” said the person familiar with the Backchannel talks.

Trump said after meeting Sharaa that the Syrian chief was willing to normalize links with Israel, while adding that it would take some time.

Sharaa did not comment on the statement, saying rather that he had reached a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement which had created a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

The new leaders of Syria have made repeated efforts to show that they are no threat to Israel, meeting representatives of the Jewish community in Damascus and abroad and holding two senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who participated in the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 against Israel.

A letter sent by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United States Department of State last month, seen by Reuters, said: “We will not allow Syria to become a threat for a party, including Israel.”

More recently, the management of Syria has shown good will by approving the transfer of an Israeli master mine who has been dead for a long time Eli Cohen’s personal effects.