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A Syrian and an Israeli official met face to face in Baku on July 12 on the sidelines of a visit to Azerbaijan by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, AFP reported, citing a diplomatic source in Damascus.
“A meeting took place between a Syrian official and an Israeli official on the sidelines of al-Sharaa’s visit to Baku,” the source told the news agency.
Al-Sharaa himself did not take part in the meeting, which focused on “the recent Israeli military presence in Syria,” the source added.
However, a separate report by i24NEWS revealed that multiple Israeli-Syrian meetings were scheduled in Baku on July 12, with Sharaa attending at least one of them.
A source close to Sharaa told the Israeli news channel earlier in the day that a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel, were planned.
The high-level Israeli delegation included a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures, according to the source.
“The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region,” the channel said, citing the source.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, was also on the table, according to the source, who added that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the United States, is intended to send a message to Iran.
Recent reports from Hebrew and Arab media revealed that Sharaa agreed to give up on the country’s claim to the Golan Heights, or at least two thirds of the occupied region. However, the country appears to be keen on regaining control over the adjacent buffer zone in southern Syria, which was invaded by Israel after the fall of the Assad regime last year.
The idea of Syria seizing some of Lebanon’s territories in exchange for peace with Israel was also floated by some reports, including one by i24NEWS.
All in all, a peace deal between Israel and Syria, or at least some sort of a security agreement appears to be months, or even just weeks away.
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