ISTANBUL

US Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said that Syria “has been totally cooperative” toward a deal with Israel.

He made the remarks in an interview with the UAE newspaper The National on Friday, on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit hosted by Abu Dhabi.

Damascus is “on the right track, and their attitude with us has been totally cooperative,” Barrack said.

He said that while Syria is pushing for peace, Israel remains wary.

“Everything we ask them to do, and dragging them towards Israel, they're doing it.”

The US envoy, however, noted that Israel “is not trusting yet,” which he said is the reason for the slow progress of the process.

“My personal view on the President's desire is we'll get a deal there, starting with the security and border agreement, utilisation of zones, moving towards normalisation, has to be the answer,” Barrack said.

“They (Syria) know that part of the solution is a deal with Israel,” said the envoy. “They have so many enemy combatants trying to disrupt this.”

On the talks with Iran, Barrack said: “I think our President has been clear. He's open to real discussions. He's not open to a senseless 'kicking the can down the road', and he knows the program. If the Iranians want to listen to what this administration is saying on enrichment and stopping the funding of the proxies, it's the answer.”

“Why is it Israel did not finish the job? We are not at the end yet. It is chapter five, and we have five more chapters to go.”

The US held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, before the talks were disrupted by an 12-day Israeli war on Tehran.