LONDON, May 7. /TASS/. The United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for indirect talks between Israel and Syria amid rising tension between the two countries, Reuters reported, citing sources.
The contacts are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two nations, according to the report. The effort started days after Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the UAE on April 13, the news service said.
According to the sources, the talks concern "technical matters." One other sources said the effort was limited to strictly to security-related issues, focusing on several counterterrorism files. Purely military matters, including Israeli army activities in Syria, fell outside the scope of the current contacts, he said.
According to Reuters, the talks involved UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials. Reuters could not establish if the mechanism has been used since the Israeli strikes on Syria that affected the area near the presidential palace in Damascus.
Informal mediation between Israel and Syria in a bid to calm the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources.
Syria's presidency and the UAE Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 2 that the airstrikes near the presidential palace in Damascus were carried out by Israeli jets. He said it was a message to Syria’s rulers that Israel would not allow their security forces to deploy south of the capital and threaten the Druze community.