Damascus is open to establishing relations with Tel Aviv despite Israel's bombing and occupation of territory in Syria
News Desk - The Cradle
Reuters writes that the talks are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two states with no official relations, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Syrian security source, and a regional intelligence official.
The first source described the effort as currently focused on technical matters and that there was no limit to what issues may eventually be discussed.
Last month, US Congressman Cory Mills visited Damascus for meetings with Syria's self-appointed President Ahmad al-Sharaa. He reported that Syria's new rulers are interested in normalizing relations with Israel “under the right conditions” in the framework of the Abraham Accords.
In contrast, the senior Syrian security source told Reuters the backchannel was limited strictly to counter-terrorism issues.
The source said that Israel's military activities in the country fell outside the scope of the current channel.
Since Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS) toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and took power in Damascus in December, Israeli troops have occupied large swathes of additional Syrian territory. Israeli warplanes have carried out multiple major bombing campaigns to destroy the country's military capabilities.
Last week, Israel launched airstrikes across Syria, including one that landed near the Presidential Palace in Damascus.
Israel claimed it was sending a “message” to Sharaa not to allow extremist members of his security forces to commit sectarian attacks against the country's Druze minority.
In March, Sharaa's forces massacred over 1,600 Alawite civilians on the basis of their religion.
A letter sent by Syria's Foreign Ministry to the US State Department last month said, “We will not allow Syria to become a source of threat to any party, including Israel.”
The intelligence source said UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials, and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the backchannel, as well as others.
The sources noted that the meeting lasted several hours, making Sharaa late for a subsequent engagement. They also said that the backchannel with Israel was established days later.
Reuters added that, “Informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at calming the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources and a regional diplomat.”
Syria's new rulers have also arrested members of Palestinian resistance groups based in Damascus, in an apparent overture to Israel. Former president Assad was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, providing weapons to both Palestinian factions and to Lebanese Hezbollah.
In a recent speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described how the Israeli military assisted the HTS takeover of Syria in December.
At the same time, Israel has lobbied the US to keep Syria “weak and decentralized” by allowing Russia to maintain military bases on the country's coast. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his government intended to “dismantle” Syria.
Smotrich has stated in the past that Israel seeks to conquer Syrian territory all the way to Damascus as part of the “Greater Israel” project.
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