Tel Aviv (dpa -AfX) – Israel has confirmed talks about a security agreement with the hostile neighboring country Syria. “Negotiations with Syria are underway,” said a statement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The prerequisite for an agreement is the disarmament of the border region in southwestern Syria and the protection of the religious minority of the Drusen. Israel considers the Drusen as allies.
Netanyahu had already made hints about the talks a few days ago. Syrian temporary president Ahmed al-Sharaa also confirmed negotiations on a security agreement. However, he emphasized that an agreement does not mean normalization with Israel.
The talks have been running hidden for months, in August Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Schaibani said Syrian information with an Israeli delegation in Paris.
Troops in the border area
Specifically, the negotiations are about regulating the presence of Syrian and Israeli troops and security forces in the border area. Israel wants to prevent militias or armed Islamist groups supported in the area of Iran, which are hostile to Israel.
Since the fall of Syria’s ruler Bashar al-Assad last December, the Israeli military has attacked hundreds of goals in Syria. According to its own statements, the military, among other things, destroyed arms warehouse and military equipment.
Israel and Syria have been officially in the state of war since 1948, and a peace treaty has never been concluded. The Golanhöhen, occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981, are a central point of dispute ./cir/dp/men