Israel Proposes a New Security Agreement to Syria... and a Possible Meeting Between Netanyahu and Al-Shara in New York

Informed sources revealed to Axios today, Tuesday, that Israel has presented a detailed security proposal to Syria in recent weeks, aimed at replacing the 1974 disengagement agreement, and includes a deployment map extending from Damascus southward to the contact line with the occupied Golan.

According to leaks, the Israeli proposal includes dividing the area into three security levels, imposing a demilitarized zone and a ban on Syrian aircraft near the border, in exchange for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories it recently occupied, except for a strategic site on Mount Sheikh that Israel insists on retaining.

The Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad Al-Shibani, is scheduled to discuss the proposal tomorrow, Wednesday, in a trilateral meeting in London, which will include Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, with the presence of U.S. envoy Thomas Barak, who mediates between the two parties.

In a notable development, Axios reported from an Israeli official that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to hold a direct meeting with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York at the end of this month.

So far, Damascus has not issued an official response to the Israeli proposal, while diplomatic sources indicate that Washington is pressuring to expedite security understandings between the two parties, as part of a roadmap to resolve the crisis in southern Syria, especially in the Sweida Governorate.