JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was engaged in talks aimed at the demilitarization of southern Syria, implicitly acknowledging for the first time contacts with the new Syrian regime.
Following deadly sectarian violence in Syria last month, Netanyahu met with a Druze leader in Israel, reassuring him that his government was negotiating to safeguard the religious community in Syria.
“We are focusing on three things: Protecting the Druze community in the Sweida governorate, but not only there; creating a demilitarised zone stretching from the Golan Heights (passing) south of Damascus down to and including Sweida; and establishing a humanitarian corridor to allow the delivery of aid,” the premier said.
“These discussions are taking place right now, at this very moment,” he added, according to a video shared by his office.
Last week, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani had met an Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris on August 19.
