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Golan dispute and retraction
United States Ambassador Tom Barrack walked back comments he made earlier that Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights, after he had said last week that the territory is occupied against “all of the international order.”
“against “all of the international order””
Al Jazeera reported that Barrack’s retraction underscored Washington’s position recognising Israel’s claimed sovereignty over the stretch of land in southern Syria, while Reuters later described Syria and Israel holding high-level talks under American mediation in Jordan on Sunday aimed at de-escalation.
In the Reuters account, the talks followed an Israeli strike on Syrian territory and focused on mechanisms to halt Israeli attacks, arrests, and targeting, as well as reviving the negotiating track to reach a security agreement.
The Reuters report also said Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Shibani told Reuters on Saturday that Damascus expects to resume negotiations with Israel soon, but noted a lack of trust between the sides.
Reuters added that the Syrian side emphasized that the immediate priority is the withdrawal of Israeli forces to lines prior to December 8, 2024, and the reactivation and full implementation of the 1974 disengagement agreement.
Strike near Beit Jen
Syria condemned an Israeli strike with a drone targeting a car near the town of Beit Jen, southwest of Damascus, saying the attack left several civilians injured and was a “gross violation” of the country’s sovereignty and international law.
The BBC reported that Syrian television stated the Israeli drone targeted a “civilian car” on a road near Beit Jen in the Damascus countryside, injuring its driver, while the Foreign Ministry did not specify the number of injuries.
In the same BBC account, Israel’s army said it opened fire in southern Syria on an individual it described as a “terrorist” in the “final stages” of preparing for attacks, adding the man’s activity posed a “direct threat” to its soldiers.
The BBC also linked the strike to rising tensions over the Turkish military presence in Syria and said it came days after an attack on the Abu al-Duhour airbase in northern Syria that escalated tensions between Israel and Turkey.
Reuters later framed the Sunday Jordan talks as de-escalation after an Israeli strike on Syrian territory, with the Syrian Arab News Agency reporting that the discussions stressed preserving regional security and narrowing differences between Turkey and Israel.
Negotiations, sovereignty, and risks
Asad Shibani told Reuters in Damascus on Saturday that “After the Iranian-Israeli war the negotiations were frozen... and we hope these negotiations will return in the near term so that we can complete this matter,” while also pointing out that contacts had completely broken off after the Israeli strike on the Syrian al-‘Abu al-Duhur Air Base.
“we hope these negotiations will return in the near term”
Reuters reported that the agreement under discussion would define several security zones in Syrian territory near the Israeli border, including a buffer zone where only the United Nations would be present, and other zones where Syria would deploy forces of varying numbers.
In the Reuters account of Sunday’s meeting, the Syrian side reiterated that Syria is a sovereign state fully entitled to rebuild and develop its national army and determine its alliances and partnerships, rejecting arrangements or mechanisms that would constrain those sovereign rights.
Reuters also said the Syrian side reiterated its firm position that the occupied Golan is Syrian territory and that the final status discussion and the path toward it remain premature at this stage.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera said Barrack’s earlier remarks had been tied to Washington’s policy of recognising Israel’s claimed sovereignty over the stretch of land in southern Syria, even as he later reasserted and then retracted the framing of occupation.