Shaibani reportedly meets Mossad chief after Israeli strike on Syrian airbase

BEIRUT — Syria expects negotiations with Israel to resume soon over a security deal that Damascus hopes will lead to an Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said, urging Israel to seize a “historic opportunity” as the door to diplomacy remains open.

In a Reuters interview in Damascus on Saturday, days after Israel bombed a Syrian airbase, Shaibani said Damascus’ priority was to halt Israeli attacks and that confidence-building measures were needed.

Senior Israeli and Syrian officials also met Sunday in an effort to ease tensions following the strike, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The meeting brought together Shaibani and Roman Gofman, the director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to the report.

The meeting came as Damascus called for the resumption of security talks with Israel. Shaibani said negotiations had been frozen since the start of the Iran war but that he expected them to restart soon. Contact between the two sides was cut after Israel’s Aug. 18 strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase, he said.

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“We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it,” Shaibani said. “We do not trust Israel currently.”

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

US pressure

Washington has been seeking to broker a security deal between Israel and the government of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a new U.S. ally in the Middle East, for more than a year. The effort has proven elusive as Israel has deployed troops into Syrian territory and carried out strikes on government assets, citing security concerns.

Sharaa has said Syria poses no threat to other countries, with Damascus focused on rebuilding after 14 years of war.

Israel seized territory in southwestern Syria after Assad was toppled in 2024, saying it needed to protect its citizens from attack, and carried out strikes on dozens of Syrian military sites.

“Israel has tried to maintain its security through brute force and it hasn’t succeeded” anywhere, Shaibani said. “I believe negotiations will resume soon.”

No date has been set.

“The U.S. is trying continuously to put pressure on Israel to return to the dialogue table,” Shaibani added.

Asked how optimistic he was, he said: “It’s very hard to bet on Israel.” But Syria had “very great hope” of building stable relationships with its neighbors.

“Syria is extending its hand for understandings, for peace, for diplomacy” and regional stability, he said.

Syria says Israel showed little will to reach a deal

Tensions escalated Tuesday when Israel bombed the Abu al-Duhur airbase, saying Damascus was about to allow Turkish forces to deploy there. Syria and Turkey denied the claim.

Shaibani said Syria respected Israel’s security concerns but that Israel must also respect Syria’s, including over Israeli use of Syrian airspace, raids and arrests in the south.

He said the two sides had “agreed on paper to almost everything” on a security deal around the beginning of the year. The agreement would require Israel to stop attacking Syria and would be tied to its withdrawal from territory seized after Assad’s fall.

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The proposed deal would establish several security zones in Syrian territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present, and others where Syrian forces would deploy with varying levels of force.

But Shaibani said Israel had sought to avoid implementing the agreement.

“We did not see they had the real will to reach an agreement,” he said.

Golan Heights

Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war.

The immediate priority is to “stop Israeli aggression even before reaching a security agreement,” Shaibani said. “Then perhaps we can open the topics of peace and the Golan.”

U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said Tuesday that Washington was working to establish a mechanism to prevent conflict among Israel, Turkey and Syria.

Shaibani said there was no agreement yet on the mechanism, which he said should halt attacks and pave the way for a security deal rather than “entrenching ... Israeli occupation.”

He said Israel had bombed Abu al-Duhur even after Syria conveyed that it would not be used as a Turkish base.

Syria relies on Turkish support for military training and cooperation, he said, adding that it also receives support from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other countries.

“Damascus is thankful for Turkey’s support in rebuilding its military,” Shaibani said, adding that Syria “won’t forgo support.”