Syria has had indirect talks with Israel

8/5/2025 6:07

Syrian President Ahmed

al-Sharaa said on Wednesday the country has had indirect talks

with Israel to bring down tensions as Israeli strikes continued

to target Syria.



Reuters reported the United Arab Emirates has set up a

backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, as Syria's new

rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile

relationship with their southern neighbour.



Sharaa said the negotiations with Israel were being

conducted through mediators, without naming them.



"There are indirect talks with Israel through mediators to

calm and attempt to absorb the situation so that it does not

reach a level that both sides lose control over," he said,

reiterating blame on Israel over what he described as its

"random interventions" in Syria.



He also said Damascus was talking to states that

communicate with Israel to "pressure them to stop intervening in

Syrian affairs and bomb some of its infrastructure."



Israel has continued its strikes in Syria in recent

weeks, including one just 500 metres from the presidential

palace in Damascus.



Israel said the strikes were in response to threats

against Syria's Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of

Islam with adherents in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Syria's new

leadership repeatedly condemned such strikes.



Israel has struck in Syria for years in a shadow

campaign aimed at weakening Iran and its allies, including

Lebanese Hezbollah.