Talk of Syrian-Israeli negotiations has resurfaced after months of stagnation, following what the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Kan, reported from unnamed sources.
The official broadcaster said Syrian-Israeli negotiations are likely to resume soon, and that Washington is pressing both sides to relaunch them, without publishing further details on the date or location of the expected round.
Despite the lack of additional details from the Israeli side, the statement aligns with a negotiating track that already began in early 2026 under Washington’s sponsorship and saw both public and undisclosed rounds over the past months.
What Did the Israeli Broadcaster Say?
The broadcaster quoted sources it described as familiar with the details as saying direct talks between the two countries would take place through a track parallel to the direct dialogue underway between Israel and Lebanon.
It added that US President Donald Trump’s desire to renew the talks comes in the context of courting President Ahmed al-Sharaa and involving him in efforts to weaken Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.
At the same time, it noted that al-Sharaa himself, as well as Israel and Lebanon, had not expressed support for the US president’s initiative.
The broadcaster has not yet published details related to the date of the expected round, its venue, or the level of representation, nor has it named the sources it relied on.
The absence of details makes the report closer to an indicator of ongoing diplomatic movement than an announcement of an agreement or a specific round. Still, it comes amid a series of US and Israeli reports in recent months that spoke of intensive efforts led by Washington to push the two sides toward gradual security and political understandings.
Negotiations Did Not Start Today
On January 5, 2026, the Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, reported the resumption of Syrian-Israeli talks mediated by the United States after a suspension that lasted several months.
Reuters reported at the time that Damascus was seeking the withdrawal of Israeli forces from areas Israel controlled after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and that the negotiations focused on a security agreement that would guarantee Syrian sovereignty and reactivate previous border arrangements.
In parallel, the US platform Axios revealed that Syrian and Israeli officials met in Paris under the direct sponsorship of US envoy Thomas Barrack to resume negotiations over a new security agreement between the two countries.
Paris, the Turning Point
Most reports published at the beginning of the year indicate that Paris was the center of the most important round of negotiations.
Diplomatic sources told Agence France-Presse at the time that the talks were held with US mediation and French coordination, while Israeli media said the two delegations discussed a new security agreement and the reactivation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
Israeli reports later said the two sides reached initial understandings to establish a communication mechanism and exchange security information, to prevent escalation and manage border files, a step then considered the most advanced since the start of the new negotiating track.
What Does Washington Want?
Since the talks returned at the beginning of the year, most reports have repeatedly said the United States is the party most eager to reach an agreement between Damascus and Tel Aviv.
Estimates cited by diplomatic and media sources indicate that the administration of US President Donald Trump sees the security agreement as a first step that could later be built upon to reach broader political arrangements in the region.
According to media reports in January, the US administration was strongly pushing for the signing of a security agreement between the two sides, benefiting from improved relations with Syria’s new government and from repeated meetings between US and Syrian officials in previous months.
Obstacles Remain
Despite repeated talk of progress in the negotiations, the main disputed files have not yet been resolved.
According to Reuters and multiple diplomatic sources, Damascus is demanding Israel’s withdrawal from areas it entered after the fall of the Assad regime, while Israel is holding on to broad security guarantees that include special arrangements in southern Syria and monitoring of military activity near the border. The demand to establish a demilitarized zone in southern Syria also represented one of the most prominent points of dispute during previous rounds.
Israeli reports indicate that these issues were a main reason talks stopped in October 2025 before resuming again at the beginning of this year.
Parallel Tracks
The accelerated talk about resuming Syrian-Israeli negotiations at this time may not be isolated from the broader regional climate, especially after the recent US-Iranian agreement. In this context, some Israeli analyses suggested that Washington may work to reengineer the region’s files through parallel tracks that include Syria and Iran at the same time.
This aims to consolidate security stability before any broader political arrangements, which explains the timing of talk about moving the Syrian-Israeli track alongside the US-Iranian agreement announced in the past hours.
The post US Pushes to Resume Syria Israel Negotiations appeared first on Enab Baladi.