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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Report: Israel holding talks with Syria on Sharaa regime joining Abraham Accords

2025-05-16

[IsraelTimes] Meeting said held recently in Azerbaijan between IDF Operations Directorate chief, Syrian and Turkish officials; Jerusalem reportedly open to border deal, normalized relations

Israel has been holding secret talks with Syrian officials in recent days, including on the possibility of the new regime joining the Abraham Accords, according to a report Thursday, a day after US President Trump invited new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to join the accords and normalize ties with Israel.

The talks are being mediated by the United Arab Emirates, Channel 12 news said, also referring to unspecified wider regional moves being advanced by the United Arab Emirates. A Haaretz report, by contrast, said the talks were being mediated by Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
and had been going on for months.

Sharaa confirmed last week that security-related talks were being held through mediators, though he did not comment on potential diplomatic relations.

Channel 12 said one meeting was held in recent days in Azerbaijan, where Israel was represented by the chief of the IDF Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basyuk. He met with representatives from the new Syrian government, with Ottoman Turkish representatives also present, the report said.

Trump on Wednesday urged Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords, as the two leaders met in Riyadh for the first direct talks between leaders of the countries in 25 years.

Trump later told news hounds that Sharaa backs such a move. "I told [Sharaa], I hope you’re going to join [the Abraham Accords] once you’re straightened out, and he said yes," Trump told news hounds aboard Air Force One. "But they have a lot of work to do."

Israel views Trump’s lifting of sanctions on Syria favorably, albeit while maintaining a high level of caution, and isn’t ruling out the possibility of influencing the shaping of the northern border and future relations between the two countries, Channel 12 added.

Israel’s recent views on Syria contrast with its previous position, the report noted, which was to dismiss the prospect of constructive interaction with Sharaa, a former leader in Syria’s local al-Qaeda branch, having been branded a terrorist by Jerusalem.

Now, Channel 12 claimed, Israel does see the possibility of Syria exiting the so-called axis of evil overseen by Iran, and even of it coming under the US aegis. It even views such potential progress as possibly enabling a positive shift in Israel-~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
ties, according to the report.

Washington and Gulf countries are seeking to pull Syria away from Iranian influence, the London Times reported earlier this week. Tehran, sworn to Israel’s destruction, propped up the former regime of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
throughout the bloody Syrian civil war.

Turkey, meanwhile, has been growing its footprint in Syria and backed rebel groups aligned with Sharaa during the civil war.

Israel had cautioned against swift recognition of the new government in Syria, expressing deep skepticism about Sharaa — who until recently had a $10 million bounty on his head from the US — after his Islamist-led rebel coalition toppled Assad’s regime in December.

Rooters reported in February that Israel, which has vowed to protect the Syrian Druze, whose coreligionists reside throughout northern Israel, has lobbied the US to keep Syria decentralized and isolated.

Israeli military operations in Syria have persisted since Assad’s ouster, with Israel bombing what it says are military targets tied to the former regime across the country, and ground forces currently stationed in a number of outposts near the border with the Golan Heights.

Posted by:trailing wife

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