Israel-Syria peace talks hit roadblock as Netanyahu sticks to key demand: Report

Peace talks between the two nations have hit a roadblock as Israel has stuck to a key demand that Syria has rejected, according to a report.

Even as Israeli leaders have dubbed President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took over Syria after he led opposition forces that ousted longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad, a terrorist over his jihadist past , the countries have been engaged in negotiations that could first lead to a security arrangement and then to a peace pact. Al-Sharaa is expected to join the Abraham Accords and normalise the relationship with Israel in the future.

For now, however, a demand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a roadblock in the process, as per The Jerusalem Post.

The newspaper has reported that Netanyahu has demanded that, under any deal, Israel would retain the ability to conduct military operations, including airstrikes, inside Syria in exchange for withdrawing from the long-established buffer zone between the two countries. Al-Sharaa has made it clear that Israel would not be permitted to operate inside the country, including conducting airstrikes , after any agreement.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Israel moved into the buffer zone between the two countries that was established in 1974. Israel has occupied the buffer zone indefinitely on the pretext of ensuring nation’s security from any threats in Syria.

The long road to Israel-Syria normalisation

Even as the two sides have been talking despite mistrust, the road for any normalisation is long.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said lately that Syria and Lebanon could be the next countries in the region to normalise ties with Israel. Both of these countries have had anti-Israel forces removed or weakened — while Assad has been ousted in from Syria, Hezbollah has been weakened in Lebanon.

However, no such deals are expected soon.

The Post has reported sources familiar with the negotiations as saying that even if an agreement is reached, “it will be a cold peace, at least in the initial stage”.

Such an agreement would be related to the buffer zone and not Golan Heights which is off the table for negotiations, according to the source.

“At this stage, it will be less a peace agreement and more a security arrangement aimed at cooperating against civilian threats. Eating hummus in Damascus or sailing in Latakia is not expected anytime soon," the source said.