Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani met a high-level Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief Roman Gofman in Jordan on Sunday, in US-mediated talks aimed at defusing tensions after Israel struck an air base in northern Syria last week.
The discussions, reported by Syria’s state news agency SANA, focused on restarting negotiations for a future security agreement between the two countries. Syrian officials asserted during the talks their right to develop a national army and freely forge alliances with any country. The meeting came less than a week after Israel hit the Abu al-Duhur air base in Idlib province.
After the Abu al-Duhur Strike
Israel struck Abu al-Duhur saying it aimed to prevent Turkey from establishing a military presence at the facility. Turkey has been supporting the new Syrian government’s efforts to rebuild its armed forces after 14 years of civil war. US Envoy Tom Barrack later revealed that Israel did not warn Washington before conducting the strike, risking direct military confrontation with the NATO ally. The revelation strained US-Israel relations at a delicate moment in the broader regional conflict.
Syrian FM al-Shibani said the two sides had agreed on paper to almost everything around the beginning of the year, including arrangements for security protocols along the border. The talks in Jordan represented an effort to revive that diplomatic process after months of military escalation. A diplomatic source cited by SANA described the meeting as focused on halting Israeli attacks and preventing Israel-Turkey tensions from spilling into Syrian territory.
A Broader Regional Diplomatic Push
The talks come amid a broader diplomatic push across the Middle East. Pakistan’s army chief is expected to visit Iran this week as mediators try to revive broader peace negotiations between Tehran and Washington. Iran’s newly installed hardline security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned Sunday that Tehran would view any country’s support for new US economic measures as an act of war, while President Masoud Pezeshkian defended a memorandum of understanding with Washington as the best path out of the stalled conflict.
The diplomatic efforts follow a period of intense military activity. Israel has conducted multiple strikes inside Syria since the broader regional war began in February, while Turkey has moved to bolster the Syrian government’s defensive capabilities. Syrian officials have insisted on their sovereign right to build alliances, a position that has put Damascus in a difficult position between Ankara and Jerusalem.
The talks also unfolded against the backdrop of continued violence elsewhere in the region. Two Iranian drones targeted the office of Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on August 17, drawing condemnation from the US, UK, EU and Gulf states. That attack underscored the challenge facing any diplomatic initiative, as non-state actors and proxy forces continue to operate across borders with relative impunity.
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