Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has revealed that talks between Syria and Israel are facing "significant" difficulties, Channel 12 News reported.
In an interview, al-Sharaa clarified that the talks have not reached a dead end, but blasted Israel's insistence on maintaining a broad buffer zone to protect its citizens, calling it, "Israel’s insistence on remaining on Syrian territory."
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he "instructed the IDF yesterday to continue widening the security zone and to also spread it eastward toward the slopes of Mount Hermon, so that we can better assist our Druze brothers in their time of distress."
In a separate interview with Fox News, which aired in November, 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."
In September, al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus that ongoing negotiations with Israel on a security pact could lead to results "in the coming days."
At the time, he 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.