Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa held a meeting Sunday with World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder at the Syrian mission headquarters in New York, reported Syria’s state-run Alikhbaria channel.
The encounter took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Alikhbaria reported that the meeting focused on negotiations between Syria and Israel. Lauder was involved in past Syrian-Israeli peace efforts during the 1990s.
The meeting comes as Israel and Syria are holding ongoing talks with US mediation, aimed at reaching a potential security agreement.
Sharaa last week expressed cautious optimism about a potential security agreement with Israel, while firmly rejecting normalization.
“I hope that that will lead us to an agreement that will keep the sovereignty of Syria and also resolve some of the security fears of Israel,” he said.
However, Sharaa dismissed the possibility of joining the Abraham Accords, which saw the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco normalize ties with Israel.
“Syria is different as those that are part of the Abraham Accords are not Israel's neighbors. Syria has been subjected to more than 1,000 Israeli raids, strikes and incursions from the Golan Heights into Syria,” he stated.
His comments came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s recent military campaign against Hezbollah had opened a “new window of possibility” for peace with Syria and Lebanon.
Netanyahu also stated that Israel is in discussions with Syria, but emphasized that "there is still a long way to go" in efforts to reach a peace agreement.
Previously, Sharaa told reporters in Damascus that ongoing negotiations with Israel on a security pact could lead to results "in the coming days"
Sharaa stated that if the security pact is successful, it could lead to “additional agreements”, but also clarified that a normalization or peace deal with Israel are not on the table at this time.