Israel should halt actions that “threaten” Syria’s stability and work towards a “calm and comprehensive” security agreement, the country’s foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in an exclusive interview with Euronews.
Al-Shaibani made the remarks coinciding with a high-level political meeting in Brussels as Israel and Syria pursue efforts to improve relations after decades of conflict.
In January, the two countries resumed US-mediated talks aimed at easing tensions along their border and restoring a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone between their forces.
“We want to have a security agreement with Israel,” Al-Shaibani told Euronews’ morning show Europe Today. “We hope that these negotiations will lead to a calm and comprehensive agreement that respects Syria’s sovereignty.”
Syria’s top diplomat insisted that Damascus sees normalisation of diplomatic relations and a peace framework as separate processes, adding that “we do not want normalisation to take place under the use of military force or provocation.”
Since Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa led an insurgent offensive ousting Bashar al-Assad following a brutal civil war in 2024, Israeli officials have effectively set aside a 1974 agreement establishing a buffer zone between their forces.
As a result, Israeli forces have taken control of areas in southern Syria and carried out strikes inside the country, citing self-defence as justification.
“Israel has not calmed down, threatening stability in Syria, destabilising and targeting military and civilian infrastructure under false and unreliable arguments,” Al-Shaibani said.
The minister called for a return to the 1974 agreement and the withdrawal of Israel from the territories it occupied after December 8, 2024.
In separate comments, he also warned that the war in Iran posed a threat to Syria’s “fragile” economy as the country looks to rebuild a country decimated by war.
Damascus has called on the international community, including the European Union, to assist reconstruction efforts. The EU alongside the Trump administration have lifted economic sanctions in an effort to ease pressure on the country’s economy.
“Now we are in the process of rebuilding Syria’s economy and rebuilding economic partnerships across the region,” he said. “Any war or conflict in the region of this magnitude also has a major economic impact on us.”
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