Syria says working with US on security understandings with Israel

Syria is working with the US to reach security understandings with Israel in the country’s south, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

A ministry statement said the understandings aim to address the “legitimate security concerns” of both Syria and Israel, while stressing Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The ministry said Jordan “will support this effort, including through joint meetings.”

The statement came shortly after Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced a seven-step roadmap to resolve the crisis in the southern city of Suwayda, following talks in Damascus with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, and US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack.

Shaibani said the plan seeks to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian and medical aid to Suwayda, restore essential services to enable a return to normal life, and deploy local security forces to secure roads and facilitate movement.

The plan also aims to compensate those affected and allow the return of displaced persons, clarify the fate of the missing, launch a reconciliation process that includes all communities in the province and hold accountable “all those whose hands are stained with assaults on civilians and their property,” he added.

Israel has escalated its violations of Syria’s sovereignty since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024 despite Damascus showing no hostile intent toward Tel Aviv.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights, and after Assad’s ouster, it seized the Syrian buffer zone and declared the 1974 disengagement agreement collapsed.