AhlulBayt News Agency: Israeli media reported that the Israeli regime and Syria’s self-appointed new officials have made “significant progress” toward a so-called “security agreement” that could be signed soon.
A source close to Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led regime, told i24 News that the agreement would include a diplomatic annex and credited U.S. President Donald Trump with helping facilitate the progress.
The report noted that the agreement is expected to be signed at a summit in an undisclosed European country.
The source did not rule out the possibility that Jolani himself could sign the agreement directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Jolani, who previously led Daesh and al-Qaeda Takfiri groups in Syria, overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Bashar al-Assad last year amid heavy Israeli strikes on civilian and defensive infrastructure.
Following Assad’s ouster, Netanyahu publicly claimed credit for developments in Syria. Israeli forces then occupied more Syrian territory, including Mount Hermon, and carried out hundreds of airstrikes targeting military bases and advanced weapons. They also conducted repeated incursions into Quneitra and Dara’a in southern Syria.
The new Syrian forces have not confronted Israeli troops occupying Syrian land, instead focusing their operations inside the country, including attacks on minority religious and ethnic communities.
In March, Jolani’s forces massacred Alawite civilians, followed by attacks on Druze civilians in July. Recently, they also targeted Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah in Aleppo.
Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights during the Western-backed war of 1967. A 1974 armistice established a demilitarized zone along the frontline.
Syria’s new foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, said the officials expect to sign a “security agreement” with Tel Aviv by year’s end, based on that armistice.
However, the regime has refused to fully withdraw from territory it seized after Assad’s fall.
Israeli sources told i24 that Tel Aviv would only withdraw from some of its nine positions inside Syria in exchange for a full “peace agreement,” not just a “security arrangement.” Such a deal would require Syria to relinquish its claim to the occupied Golan Heights.
Reports of progress toward the deal come amid very limited domestic support in Syria for normalization.
A nationwide poll earlier this month found only 14 percent of Syrians supported full normalization, and just four percent viewed the regime favorably. The survey of 1,229 adults showed strong opposition among Alawite, Druze, and Christian minorities, who expressed fear and insecurity under Syria’s new rulers.
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