Syria says contacts with Israel halted after airbase attack

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Sunday that contacts between Syria and Israel were suspended after Tel Aviv struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria, but expected negotiations on a security agreement to resume “soon.”

“We expect negotiations with Israel on a security agreement to resume soon, which we hope will lead to its withdrawal from Syrian territory,” Shaibani said in an interview with Western media, as cited by Syria Alikhbaria TV.

He urged Israel to seize a “historic opportunity,” stressing that “the door remains open to diplomacy.”

Shaibani said Syria’s immediate priority is to halt Israeli attacks and take confidence-building measures.

He said the negotiating track was suspended following the Iran-Israel war and expressed hope that talks would resume in the coming period.

The minister disclosed that direct contacts with Israel stopped after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the northern Idlib province on Aug. 18.

“We do not trust Israel at present,” he said.

Shaibani said Israel bombed the facility despite Damascus having informed it that the site “would not become a Turkish base.”

He nevertheless affirmed that Syria would continue relying on Turkish assistance in military training and cooperation.

“We will not dispense with this support,” he said.

Shaibani described communication with Israel as “necessary, given that it is a party that constantly threatens Syria’s security,” but said Damascus did not want such contacts to continue without producing results.

Security agreement

The foreign minister said Damascus and Tel Aviv reached understandings earlier this year on most provisions of a proposed security agreement.

“Almost everything was agreed upon on paper,” he said.

According to Shaibani, the proposed agreement would require Israel to refrain from attacking Syria or interfering in its internal affairs, halt its military operations and withdraw from territories it seized following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

It would also establish several security zones near the border, including “a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present,” alongside other areas where Syrian forces would be deployed at varying levels, he added.

Shaibani accused Israel of seeking to avoid finalizing the agreement.

“We did not find that they had the motivation or genuine will to reach an agreement,” he said.

Regarding the occupied Golan Heights, Shaibani said Syria’s current priority is to stop Israeli attacks, even before reaching a security agreement. Discussions on the Golan Heights and peace could follow later, he added.

US role

Shaibani said the US is exerting continuous pressure on Israel to return to the negotiating table and conclude an agreement with Syria.

He also reiterated Damascus’ ambition to establish stable relations with its regional neighbors.

On July 26, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said his country was working with several states to conclude a security agreement with Israel, arguing that its success could pave the way for “comprehensive peace” without relinquishing Syria’s claim to the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967.

Following the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024, Israel declared the 1974 disengagement agreement void and seized the Syrian buffer zone and other positions, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon (Jabal Al-Sheikh).