ISTANBUL 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday claimed there has been “some progress” in contacts with Syria, while stressing that any breakthrough remains a long way off.

Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel’s recent “victories against Hezbollah opened a window to unimaginable possibilities, the possibility of peace with our neighbors to the north.”

“We’re holding contacts and there has been some progress with the Syrians, but the road is still long,” he added in his comments cited by the Walla news site.

There was no immediate comment from Damascus on Netanyahu’s claim. But Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said two days earlier that his country was “very close” to reaching a US-brokered agreement with Tel Aviv.

He noted the prospective deal would resemble the 1974 disengagement accord, which Israel declared defunct following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in London, with US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack also present. The talks reportedly focused on a draft security agreement presented by Israel.

Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has repeatedly carried out airstrikes in Syria and expanded its control, even as Damascus refrained from hostile action.

Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 and, after Assad’s fall, seized the buffer zone and declared the 1974 disengagement agreement void.