Al-Shaibani: I expect negotiations with Israel to resume, and we will not abandon Turkish support.

ARK News.. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Damascus expects negotiations with Israel over a security agreement to resume soon, with the aim of eventually securing Israel’s withdrawal from Syrian territory. He urged Israel to seize what he described as a “historic opportunity,” stressing that the door to diplomacy remains open.

In an interview with Reuters published Sunday, August 23, Shibani said Damascus’s priority is to halt Israeli attacks and stressed that “steps to build trust in this direction” are necessary.

“After the Iranian-Israeli war, the negotiations were frozen, and we hope they will resume in the near future so that we can complete this process,” Shibani said.

Regarding contacts between Syria and Israel, he said, “We do not trust Israel at present. Through our dealings, we engage with it, but there is currently no trust,” adding that communications were severed following the Israeli airstrike on the Syrian airbase.

Al-Shaibani stressed the need for continued communication, “especially with a side that constantly threatens Syria’s security,” but added that Damascus does not want such communication to continue if it produces no results.

Regarding the resumption of negotiations, al-Shaibani said, “The door is open, and I believe negotiations will resume soon.”

On the role of the United States in reaching a security agreement between Syria and Israel, he said Washington “continues to pressure Israel or push Israel toward returning to the negotiating table and reaching an agreement with Syria.”

Asked how optimistic he was, al-Shaibani said, “It is very difficult to bet on Israel,” but added that Syria has “very high ambitions” for stable relations with its neighbors.

“Syria today is extending its hand toward understanding, peace, and diplomacy. It wants the region to be stable,” he said.

Israel Is Not Willing to Reach an Agreement

Al-Shaibani said Israel has asked Syria to take its security concerns into account. “We have no problem with that. We understand these concerns, but Israel must also respect Syria’s security concerns and its sovereignty,” he said, referring to Israel’s use of Syrian airspace, airstrikes, and arrests carried out in southern Syria.

Regarding the security agreement, al-Shaibani said that at the beginning of the year, “we agreed on almost everything on paper,” including a number of provisions, foremost among them a commitment by Israel not to attack Syria or interfere in its internal affairs.

The agreement would require Israel to halt attacks on Syria and would be linked to its withdrawal from territories it seized following the fall of the Assad regime. It would also establish several security zones inside Syrian territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only United Nations personnel would be present, as well as other areas where Syrian forces would be deployed at varying levels.

However, al-Shaibani said Israel sought to avoid completing the agreement, adding, “We did not find that they had the motivation or genuine willingness to reach an agreement.”

Golan Heights

“Our focus at present is to stop the aggression above all else, even before the security agreement. Later, it may be possible to open discussions on peace and the Golan Heights. We have now taken a step backward,” al-Shaibani said.

He explained that the mechanism had not yet been finalized, stressing, “We do not want it to become a mechanism for entrenching the reality of the Israeli occupation in the new Syria. We want it to be a mechanism for stopping the attacks and creating the conditions for reaching a security agreement that ultimately leads to Israel’s withdrawal from Syria.”

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