Damascus, Aug. 23 (SANA) Foreign Minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, said Syria expects negotiations with Israel over a security agreement to resume soon, stressing that Damascus’ immediate priority is to halt Israeli attacks and establish confidence-building measures.
In an interview with Reuters broadcast Sunday, al-Shaibani said Damascus hopes a security agreement would ultimately lead to an Israeli withdrawal from the Syrian territory, calling for a “historic opportunity” to be seized while diplomacy remains open to any path capable of achieving political progress.
Contacts under clear conditions
“The negotiations were frozen after the Iranian-Israeli war, and we hope they will resume in the near future so that we can complete this process,” al-Shaibani said.
“We do not trust Israel at present. We deal with it through our interactions, but there is currently no trust,” he added, noting that contacts were suspended following the Israeli attack on Abu al-Duhur military airbase in Idlib province last Tuesday.
Al-Shaibani said communication was necessary, particularly with a party that constantly threatens Syria’s security, but stressed that Damascus had no interest in contacts that produced no results.
A fragile diplomatic track- U.S. PRESSURE
“Israel has repeatedly tried to preserve its security through hard power, and it has not succeeded,” al-Shaibani said. “The door is open, and I believe negotiations will resume soon.”
As for the United States, al-Shaibani said that Washington was continuously trying to pressure Israel, or encourage it to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement with Syria.
Asked how optimistic he was, the Foreign Minister said it was “very difficult to bet on Israel,” but added that Syria had strong ambitions to establish stable relations with its surroundings.
He stressed that Syria was extending its hand toward understandings, peace and diplomacy and wanted the region to be stable. Damascus, he said, had no objection to Israel asking that its security concerns be taken into consideration, but Israel must likewise respect Syria’s security concerns and sovereignty.
In this context, al-Shaibani pointed to repeated Israeli attacks, violations of Syrian airspace and arrests carried out in southern Syria.
On the proposed security agreement, al-Shaibani made clear that the Syrian and Israeli sides had agreed on almost everything on paper, including several points, foremost among them an end to Israeli attacks on Syria and non-interference in its internal affairs.
Halting attacks comes first
Al-Shaibani said Israel had sought to evade finalizing the agreement, adding: “We did not find that they had the motivation or genuine will to reach an agreement.”
“Syria’s focus now is on stopping the attacks before anything else, even before the security agreement,” the Foreign Minister said. “The issues of peace and the Golan could be opened later. We have now taken a step backward.”
Asked about remarks by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack regarding Washington’s efforts to establish a mechanism to prevent clashes between Israel, Türkiye and Syria, al-Shaibani said no agreement had yet been reached on such a mechanism.
“We also do not want it to become a mechanism that entrenches the status-quo of Israeli occupation in the new Syria,” al-Shaibani said, “We want it to be a mechanism to stop the attacks and pave the way for reaching a security agreement culminating in Israel’s withdrawal from Syria,” he added.
Al-Shaibani went on to say that Israel attacked Abu al-Duhur military airbase even after Syria had conveyed a message that the facility would not become a Turkish base.
He added that Syria relies on Türkiye and brotherly Arab countries, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, for military training.
“As long as Türkiye has the willingness and initiative to support the Syrian people in this field, we will certainly thank them for that and will not dispense with this support,” he said.
In written responses to questions from the U.S. news website Axios on Aug. 20, al-Shaibani said Syria had made clear to the United States that it did not trust Israel’s intentions toward Syria and believed that current Israeli policy, including its military escalation and actions on the ground, did not contribute to stability in Syria or the region.
Al-Shaibani affirmed that Syria remains interested in reaching an agreement with Israel to de-escalate tensions, adding that de-escalation could not be the responsibility of one side alone. Israel, he said, must also reassess its policy toward Syria and recognize that continued military operations and attacks would not provide long-term security but would instead fuel further instability.
MZN
