Al-Shaybani: The door is open for diplomacy... and Israel should seize the "historic opportunity" - Sarmad

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaybani said that Damascus expects to resume negotiations with Israel in the near future regarding a security agreement that it hopes will lead to an Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory, urging Israel to seize a “historic opportunity” and affirming that the door remains open for diplomacy.

In an interview with Reuters in Damascus on Saturday, days after Israel bombed the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria, al-Shaybani also affirmed that Damascus’s top priority is halting Israeli attacks, stating that it is necessary to take steps to build confidence in this direction.

Washington has been seeking to broker a security agreement between Israel and Syria for more than a year, but such an agreement remains elusive, as Israel has deployed troops into Syrian territory and attacked government sites, claiming they posed threats to its security.

Al-Shaybani said, “Following the war in Iran, negotiations were frozen, and we hope they will resume in the near future so we can complete this matter.”

He added, “We currently do not trust Israel; we interact with them through dealings, but there is no trust at present,” noting that communications were severed after the airstrike targeting the airbase.

Al-Shaybani said, “There must be communication, especially with an entity that constantly threatens Syria’s security, but if this communication yields no results, we have no desire for it at all.”