BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian and Israeli officials are set to resume U.S.-mediated talks in Paris in hopes of reaching a security agreement to defuse tensions between the two countries, a Syrian official said Monday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that the delegation on the Syrian side will be headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and the head of the General Intelligence Directorate, Hussein Salameh.
The official said Syria's main aim in the talks is to reactivate a 1974 disengagement agreement that established a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and to secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces, who seized control of that buffer zone more than a year ago.
In December 2024, insurgents led by Syria's now-interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted the country's longtime autocratic leader, Bashar Assad, in a lightning offensive.
Al-Sharaa said he has no desire for a conflict with Israel. But Israel was suspicious of the new Islamist-led leadership and quickly moved to take control of the buffer zone. It has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities and periodic incursions into villages outside the buffer zone, which have sometimes led to violent confrontations with residents.
Israel has said its presence is temporary to clear out pro-Assad remnants and militants in order to protect Israel from attacks. But it has given no indication its forces would leave anytime soon. Talks between the two countries to reach a security agreement had stalled last year.
In the new round of discussions, the Syrian official said, Damascus will seek “the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the lines prior to Dec. 8, 2024, within the framework of a reciprocal security agreement that prioritizes full Syrian sovereignty and guarantees the prevention of any form of interference in the country’s internal affairs.”
Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declined to comment.
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Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.
