With no date yet set, Damascus believes negotiations on a security agreement with Israel will resume soon. The Syrian side's goal is to end Israeli attacks and secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed his expectation that security talks between Syria and Israel would restart soon, while making clear that no specific date has yet been agreed.
Speaking in an interview in Damascus, Shaibani said the talks had frozen after the start of the war on Iran, with contact between the two sides cut off entirely following Israel's strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase.
The Syrian minister said his country is seeking an agreement that would halt Israeli attacks and lead to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territory seized after the fall of the Assad regime in 2024.
Despite signs of a possible return to the negotiating table, Shaibani made clear that Damascus does not currently trust Israel and that specific confidence-building measures are required.
According to Shaibani, the two sides had reached a preliminary agreement on most of the terms in early 2026. The plan under discussion envisages the creation of security zones on Syrian territory near the border with Israel.
One of these would function as a neutral zone, with an exclusive presence of United Nations personnel, while the others would allow for different levels of deployment of Syrian forces.
Damascus insists that any agreement must be tied to an end to Israeli military operations and a withdrawal from occupied Syrian territory. Shaibani argued, however, that so far Israel has not shown genuine willingness to implement what has been agreed.
The United States has been trying for more than a year to mediate between Israel and the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Washington is also working in parallel to establish a mechanism to prevent military clashes between Israel, Syria and Turkey.
With information from Reuters
