US is pushing for a non-aggression pact between Israel, Syria, but Netanyahu has shown little appetite for compromise.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said an agreement with Syria is achievable, outlining expectations that Syrian authorities establish a demilitarised buffer zone stretching from Damascus to Jabal al-Sheikh, which Israel currently occupies.
Netanyahu’s comments on Tuesday came a day after US President Donald Trump said he wanted both Syria and Israel to “have a long and prosperous relationship together”.
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Talks have been ongoing over a security agreement between Israel and Syria for months, but appear to have made little progress in recent weeks.
Syria does not formally recognise Israel, which has expanded its illegal occupation of Syrian territory over the last year.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and later illegally annexed the area, a move recognised by the United States but rejected by most of the international community.
Then, after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, it reneged on a 1974 agreement and expanded further into Syrian territory, seizing areas including the whole of Jabal al-Sheikh, a mountain that commands views over northern Israel and southern Syria.
Israel has repeatedly attacked Syria in the last year, despite the new government in Damascus’s insistence that it is not looking for a fight. Most recently, an Israeli raid last Friday killed 13 people in the town of Beit Jinn, southwest of Damascus.
“What we expect Syria to do is, of course, to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the buffer area, including the approaches to Mount Hermon and the Hermon peak,” Netanyahu said, using the Israeli name for Jabal al-Sheikh, during a visit to wounded soldiers in central Israel.
“We hold these areas in order to ensure the security of Israel’s citizens, and that is what obligates us.”
He added, “With goodwill and an understanding of these principles, it is possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles in any case.”
Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, sharply criticised Netanyahu’s demands, calling them “ourageous”.
“If Israel wants a security zone it must do it on it’s own territory. What Netanyahu is asking for more territory from the Syrian country,” Levy told media.
It’s not just about territory, it’s about maintaining the situation of war – it does so in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria – he is interested in continuing the war. There is no ceasefire for him,” he said.
The Trump administration has been attempting to broker a non-aggression pact between the two countries, while the US president has expressed his support for Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Trump praised what he described as progress under al-Sharaa’s fledgling government, which has promised to unify Syria after years of civil war and sectarian fragmentation.
“The United States is very satisfied with the results displayed, through hard work and determination, in the Country of Syria,” the US president wrote. “We are doing everything within our power to make sure the Government of Syria continues to do what was intended, which is substantial, in order to build a true and prosperous Country.”
“The new President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is working diligently to make sure good things happen, and that both Syria and Israel will have a long and prosperous relationship together,” he added.
Shortly after Trump’s statement, Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders had spoken by phone.
US Special Envoy Tom Barrack was in Damascus on Tuesday, where he met Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani to discuss Syria-Israel relations. Barrack had met al-Sharaa on Monday.
Israel and Syria have been in talks for months over a settlement, but Israeli media have recently reported that talks between the two had reached a dead end, mainly as a result of Netanyahu’s unwillingness to compromise on Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the territory it has seized in the last year.
Israel has also reportedly demanded that it be allowed to maintain an aerial corridor to Iran via Syria, in case it needs to use it for future air strikes.
