Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview aired Sunday that Damascus is actively working toward a security agreement with Israel that involves several other countries, expressing hope it could serve as a gateway to comprehensive peace, according to Al Jazeera. He said any such agreement would not compromise Syria’s claim to the occupied Golan Heights, and that Syria has no interest in confronting Israel. The talks are focused on securing an Israeli withdrawal from the buffer zone it seized in southern Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024, building on a January agreement between the two countries to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism. On Lebanon, al-Sharaa said Syria would not intervene militarily to help dismantle Hezbollah’s arsenal, but supports keeping weapons and decisions on war and peace exclusively under Lebanese state authority. He also acknowledged delays in implementing a separate January agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The interview came a day after UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Damascus and stated that the UN recognizes the Golan Heights as part of Syria, a position unchanged since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the territory and its unilateral 1981 annexation, which the international community has never recognized, according to The Jerusalem Post.
