Netanyahu gathers ministers to discuss Syria security agreement as Sharaa travels to New York

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting with seven ministers to discuss a possible security agreement with Syria, The Jerusalem Post reported on 21 September, citing Israeli officials.

Talks between Israel and Syria have been ongoing. One official confirmed to The Post that talks with Syria have “progressed” amid speculation a security deal between the two states could be reached before the UN General Assembly meeting in New York later this week.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda and ISIS commander, departed Damascus for New York on Sunday.

State television said Sharaa was en route “to the United States of America to participate in the affairs of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.”

A Syrian Foreign Ministry official told AFP on Thursday that Israel and Syria are expected to reach several security and military agreements by the end of 2025.

One official told The Post that the agreements would “halt Israeli military operations inside Syria.”

Lt.-Col. (res.) Alon Eviatar told Israeli radio (103FM) on Thursday that an agreement with Syria would likely include “a corridor to fly through on the way to Iran.”

On 16 September, Israel presented Syria with a detailed proposal for a new security agreement. Maps from the proposal called for “demilitarized zones from Damascus southwest up to the border with Israel,” including a no-fly zone, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the details.

In exchange, Israel would gradually withdraw from all of the territories it has occupied in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December, except for an outpost on the summit of Mount Hermon.

A senior Israeli official told Axios that Israel insists on occupying the strategic post on the mountain as part of any agreement.

Israel will continue to illegally occupy the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1973.

Sharaa’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, traveled to Washington on Thursday to lobby US officials for the removal of sanctions on Syria. 
On Saturday, Shaibani met with members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The meeting discussed “ways to promote dialogue and understanding among peoples and cultures,” Syria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on X.

In March and July, Syrian forces carried out horrific massacres against Syria’s Alawite and Druze religious minorities.

With Sharaa in power in Damascus, Israel and its partners are enjoying the benefits of a successful multi-decade campaign to topple the Syrian government and destroy its military capabilities.

Starting in 2011, the US, Israel, and allied nations launched a covert war to topple Assad using Al-Qaeda militants from Iraq, Lebanon, and Libya as proxies.