LONDON, May 27. /TASS/. Israel and Syria have held several unmediated meetings in recent weeks to address security issues and cool tensions in the border area between the two countries, Reuters said, citing sources.
According to the sources, the Syrian delegation was led by Ahmad al-Dalati, who was recently appointed commander of internal security forces in Syria’s southern Sweida governorate. The Israeli delegation was said to include security officers. The meetings were organized in the border region, including in Israel-controlled territories. The delegations discussed security issues, including ways to prevent escalation in border areas. The sources do not rule out that these contacts could promote a wider mutual understanding on political matters.
In early May, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, told a news conference after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris that Syria was "in indirect talks with Israel via mediators" to stabilize the situation.
Following the change of power in Syria in December 2024, Israel began delivering strikes on military facilities in Syria. Late that month, Israel deployed additional forces to the Golan Heights, which belonged to Syria until 1967 and whose annexation was recognized as illegal by the UN Security Council in 1981, and took control of the demilitarized buffer zone separating Israel- and Syria-controlled territories since 1974. After that, Israel announced its plans to establish a 15-kilometer "control zone" and a 50-kilometer "influence area" in Syria, claiming that their objective is to ensure the demilitarization of southern Syria.
Armed clashes took place in Druze-populated neighborhoods of the Syrian capital city in late April 2025, with armed groups taking control of the Sahnaya neighborhood. Israel delivered several airstrikes on targets near Damascus, in the Latakia, Hama, and Daraa governorates. The Syrian foreign ministry condemned these strikes as interference into the country’s domestic affairs.