WASHINGTON, July 25. /TASS/. Ministers from Israel and Syria held the first high-level meeting between the countries in 25 years, the Axios news portal wrote.
The talks were mediated by US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Tom Barrack.
According to the portal, the meeting in Paris was attended from the Israeli side by the minister for strategic affairs and Netanyahu's confidant Ron Dermer and from the Syrian side by foreign minister Assad al-Sheibani.
The talks lasted for four hours and focused on reducing tensions between the countries. The sides planned to agree on security in southern Syria and on a ceasefire, Israeli sources told Axios.
This semi-public meeting in Paris followed numerous secret meetings between Israeli and Syrian officials over the past several months, the portal wrote. Israeli and US officials say the meeting in Paris was a first step and stress confidence-building measures from both sides are needed in order to move forward.
Tensions in southern Syria escalated on July 13, when clashes broke out between Arab tribal militias and Druze self-defense forces. On July 15, Syrian forces entered the city of Sweida name and began mopping it up in order to stabilize the situation. Shortly after, Israel started striking Syrian military convoys, arguing that it was seeking to protect the Druze population of the province.
On July 16, the Israeli Air Force struck some strategic targets in and around Damascus, including the General Staff headquarters, the presidential palace and the Mezzeh military airfield.