Syrian President for the transitional period, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, revealed the details of the ongoing negotiations with Israel regarding reaching a security agreement, stressing that Damascus chose the path of diplomacy to avoid the region sliding into a broader conflict, despite the continued Israeli military presence on Syrian territory.
Announcement
Announcement
Al-Sharaa’s statements came in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of his participation in the fifth edition of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, which began on Friday, during an official visit to Turkey.
The interim Syrian President said that his country’s policy in the post-war period that has exhausted Syrians for fourteen years is focused on development and reconstruction, two paths that require a great deal of stability.
Accusations against Israel and the option of diplomacy
Al-Sharaa accused Israel of practicing “great brutality” against Syria, noting that it “targeted multiple Syrian sites and occupied lands adjacent to the Golan Heights, which were originally occupied since 1967.”
He added, “Israel took advantage of developments in the period after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to occupy the buffer zone and announce the collapse of the disengagement agreement signed between the two sides in 1974.”
However, Al-Sharaa stressed that Damascus chose the path of international dialogue as an alternative to confrontation. He said: “We chose the path of diplomacy and convincing the international community to help so that things would not deteriorate and turn into a state of conflict, especially after the Syrian people were exhausted during the past 14 years.”
““We have not reached a dead end.”
Regarding the progress of the talks with the Israeli side, Al-Sharaa explained that the negotiations “are taking place with great difficulty due to Israel’s insistence on being present on Syrian territory,” but he added, “I do not think they have reached a dead end.”
He stressed that Damascus is “serious” in its effort to obtain a security agreement that maintains the stability of the region, noting that Syria’s image has begun to transform regionally and internationally from a hotbed of crisis to a potential stabilizing factor.
He said: “We are serious about obtaining some kind of security agreement that preserves the stability of the region. Syria today has moved from a state of crisis and the idea has begun to take shape among all countries and to look at it as a state of regional and international stability.”
The Golan is an “inherent right”
Al-Sharaa reiterated the invalidity of any international recognition of Israel’s annexation of the occupied Golan, considering that sovereignty over this land is “an inherent right of the Syrian people.”
He revealed that the first level of the current negotiations is focused on discussing a “security agreement” that guarantees the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the lines agreed upon in the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
In the context of his visit to Turkey, which he described as “a supporter of the Syrian revolution for 14 years and stood by the oppressed Syrian people,” Al-Sharaa spoke about new regional opportunities available to his country.
He said, “The crisis between the United States, Israel, and Iran has opened opportunities for Syria to be a safe route for energy supplies and supply chains between the Arabian Gulf and Turkey, through its ports on the Mediterranean Sea.”
Al-Sharaa revealed that the export of Iraqi oil has actually begun through Syrian ports, noting that what is known as the “Four Seas Project” is part of the regional integration plan that aims to secure global supply chains through the integration of Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Arab Gulf states.
Regarding internal affairs, Al-Sharaa spoke of achieving “tangible progress” in the process of “merging the revolutionary forces with the Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF). He considered that the departure of the last foreign military base from northeastern Syria represents a fundamental step towards the stability of the country.
The path to normalization faltered
It is noteworthy that President Al-Sharaa had stated during his visit to London last month that his government had reached “advanced stages” in efforts to normalize relations with Israel, but the Israeli side changed its position at the “last minute.”
He said at the time during his participation in an event organized by Chatham House: “We tried direct and indirect dialogue and negotiations, and we achieved good results, but Israel changed its position at the last minute,” without revealing more details about the reasons for this failure.
Israel took control of parts of the Golan Heights in 1967 and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community except the United States.
After the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024, it launched hundreds of raids on Syrian military sites and deployed its forces in the buffer zone under United Nations monitoring, in a move that the international organization considered a violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
Since then, Israel has carried out repeated incursions into Syrian territory, declaring its efforts to establish a demilitarized zone in the south of the country.
Damascus demands respect for the disengagement agreement that defines the dividing line between the occupied Golan and Syrian territory.
Since last year, the two parties have held rounds of talks and agreed, under American pressure, in January to establish a joint coordination mechanism in preparation for a security agreement between the two countries, which have been officially still at war for decades.
The American envoy: Al-Sharaa does not want war with Israel
In a parallel position during the same forum, the US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, confirmed that Syria’s President for the Transitional Period, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, assured him that he “does not want to enter into a war with Israel.”
Barak stressed that Syria did not fire any missiles towards Israel during the current escalation, adding that Damascus shows a clear preference for the option of calm and rearranging regional security rather than igniting fronts.
The American official expected to reach a “non-aggression and normalization agreement” with Syria at a faster pace than expected with Lebanon. He said, “The Syrian government has adopted a very intelligent and patient policy in avoiding a clash with Israel, and the Syrian side has repeatedly expressed its readiness for dialogue with Israel.”
Barak considered that “strength alone is respected in the region and that the solution lies in reaching an agreement with Israel as a prosperity-based approach to resolving the state of instability in the region.”
Complete American withdrawal
These positions and statements issued by the Antalya Diplomatic Forum coincide with the announcement of the complete US withdrawal from Syria.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced that the army took over the Qasrak air base in the countryside of Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeast of the country, after the withdrawal of American forces from it.
For his part, a spokesman for the US Central Command confirmed “the completion of the handover of these bases to the Syrian forces,” noting that “the American forces will continue to support the efforts of our partners to combat terrorism.”
