Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa confirmed that talks to reach a security agreement between his country and Israel are continuing, DPA reported, BTA reported.
Israel and Syria, who have been officially at war since 1948, reached a force separation agreement in 1974. The agreement, initially reached after the 1973 war, created a buffer zone on the Golan Heights under UN supervision to separate Israeli and Syrian forces.
“Israel believes that with the fall of the regime (of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad), Syria has withdrawn from the 1974 agreement, even though Syria has demonstrated its commitment to it from the very beginning,“ al-Sharaa said in a televised address interview.
“Negotiations are currently underway for a security agreement so that Israel returns to its position before December 8“, he told Syrian state television Al-Ekhbariya, referring to the day Assad was ousted.“Negotiations are not over yet“, added the Syrian leader, who took power after Assad's overthrow. Last month, Israel and Syria held direct talks in Paris, brokered by the United States.”
The Golan Heights, occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 and annexed in 1981, are a central point of dispute between Israel and Syria. The annexation is not recognized by the international community. Israel deployed additional troops to the region after Assad's fall and stepped up airstrikes in Syria, saying their aim was to prevent Syrian army weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.