Syria, Israel ‘in secret peace talks’

A senior official from the Israeli Defence Forces reportedly met representatives of Syria’s interim president in Azerbaijan recently

Interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa shakes hands with Donald Trump in Riyadh. Picture: AP.

Syria and Israel have reportedly been holding secret peace talks even before Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa told Donald Trump he was committed to normalising ties with his country’s old enemy.

Israel’s Channel 12 TV reports that one of the key meetings recently took place in Azerbaijan, where the head of the Israeli Defence Force’s Operations Directorate, Major General Oded Sayyuk, met with representatives close to Mr Sharaa, who has led Syria since he ousted former president Bashir al-Assad last year.

The revelations come as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Syria’s new leadership wanted peace with Israel as he met the country’s foreign minister following a US decision to ease sanctions.

Mr Rubio met in Turkey with Syria’s foreign minister to discuss further normalisation of relations following the meeting between President Donald Trump and Mr Sharaa, a former Islamist guerrilla.

“We think that a peaceful, stable Syria would be one of the most dramatic improvements in the region in a very long time, and we want to do everything we can to help achieve that,” Mr Rubio told reporters after the talks.

Israel has previously voiced pessimism about MR Sharaa and has pounded Syria with military strikes, much as it did in the run-up to Assad’s overthrow in December.

But Mr Rubio, like Mr Trump, said the new Syrian leadership was open to normalisation with Israel – a major priority in the United States.

“They’ve expressed an interest in being at peace with all of their neighbours, including Israel,” said Mr Rubio, who also spoke Thursday by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Syrian foreign ministry in a statement said Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani spoke to Mr Rubio about “the details of lifting US sanctions on Syria, improving relations between Damascus and Washington, and discussing ways to build a strategic partnership”.

Mr Rubio said the Syrian leadership, which has members once linked to Al-Qaeda, sought a “pluralistic society in which all the different elements of Syrian society are able to live together”.

Since the overthrow of Assad, a largely secular ruler who belonged to the Alawite community, Syria has seen major attacks on both the Alawite and Druze minorities.

Mr Rubio said the Syrians also voiced an “interest in driving out foreign fighters and terrorists and others that would destabilise the country”.

“They’ve asked for our help, and so we’re going to try to help them now,” he said.

“It’ll be a long road, because it’s been a long time, so we recognise that, but this is a historic opportunity,” he said.

AFP