Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Saturday that negotiations with Israel on a potential security arrangement are focused on areas Israel has recently taken over and do not address the broader issue of the Golan Heights.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference and quoted by AFP, Shaibani said discussions were centered on "the withdrawal of Israel" from territory it took after the ousting of former Syrian ruler Bashar Al-Assad on December 8, 2024, "not from the Golan Heights, and this is another issue".
Following Assad’s overthrow, Israel deployed troops into a United Nations-monitored buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.
Israel and Syria’s new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks in recent months. After negotiations in January and under US pressure, the sides agreed to establish an intelligence sharing mechanism as they moved closer to a possible security agreement.
Shaibani said Israel must "respect the security of Syria and withdraw from these territories" in order to reach a deal.
"These negotiations will certainly not lead to forcing an acceptance of the fait accompli imposed by Israel in southern Syria," he said.
"The end of these negotiations will be the withdrawal of Israel from the areas where it advanced" since December 2024, and with Israel refraining from "interfering in Syria's internal affairs" and sovereignty, Shaibani added.
This past November, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa revealed, in an interview with the Washington Post, that Syria is engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, but stressed his demand that Israel withdraw from territories captured after Assad’s toppling.
Asked whether Syria would agree to demilitarize the region south of Damascus, al-Sharaa rejected the idea. “To talk about an entire region demilitarized, it will be difficult, because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it? If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?"
He added, “At the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory."
A day earlier, in an interview with Fox News, al-Sharaa was asked about the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords and was cautious.
He would not acknowledge whether Syria would agree to recognize Israel’s right to exist and would only say, “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel occupies the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now. Maybe the United States administration, with President Trump, will help us reach this kind of negotiation."