A diplomatic backchannel has reportedly been opened between Syria and Israel, allowing the pair to discuss security matters and counter-terrorism operations.
The two nations are engaged in initial negotiations, currently centred on “technical discussion”, which are being mediated by the UAE, according to a new report from Reuters.
Citing senior Syrian sources, the report stated that talks are, for now, limited to the topic of security.
Military matters, including Israel’s strikes on Syria in response to sectarian violence against the latter’s Druze community, remain off the table for now.
However, the sources did add that, theoretically, there was “no limit to what may eventually be discussed”.
The channel was reportedly opened prior to the strikes, one of which hit just a short distance from the presidential palace in Damascus, and it is unclear whether it has been used since.
Talks were understood to involve security officials from the UAE, intelligence officials from Syria and former security officials from Israel.
Abu Dhabi apparently became involved after a meeting between its president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Syria’s new leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa. The sit-down was reported to have been amicable and important in easing some of Al Nahyan’s concern about his counterparts previous links to Islamist extremism.
Al-Sharaa’s party, Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), evolved from the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian offshoot of Al Qaeda, with the now-president tasked with establishing the branch by Ayman Al-Zahawiri, right hand man to Osama Bin Laden.
For its part, his administration is reported to view the UAE as a key link to Israel, given its participation in the Abraham Accords.
On that subject, Al-Sharaa has previously been reported to be interested in joining the accords and normalising relations with the Jewish state in return for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions by Washington.
In conjunction, he has also radically shifted his nation’s foreign policy away from support for Iran and its network of proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and towards the West, particularly Turkey.
However, this has prompted alarm in Jerusalem given Turkish president Erdoğan’s history of anti-Israel comments, including a call for Israel to be destroyed in recent months.
These concerns were only exacerbated by clashes between Syrian security forces and Druze groups, whom Israel has long supported, after a recording of men insulting the Prophet Muhammad was wrongly attributed to Druze clerics.
Nonetheless, it appears that Al-Sharaa is gaining more acceptance among Western nations than his pro-Iran predecessor Bashar Al-Assad. Indeed, he is currently making his first European trip to meet President Macron in Paris, to discuss political stabilisation in Syria and the fight against terrorist factions.
