Syria: No Israeli Golan withdrawal, no deal

Syria’s foreign minister says Damascus will not compromise its demand that Israel withdraw from buffer zone areas in the Golan Heights seized after the fall of the Assad regime.

By World Israel News Staff

Syria has doubled down on its demand that Israel withdraw from parts of the Golan Heights in exchange for a new security deal between the two countries.

On Friday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the Saudi-owned, UK-based Al Majalla journal that his country will not agree to any new security deal with Israel without a full withdrawal of IDF forces from the eastern sliver of the Golan Heights, which had served as a demilitarized zone for 50 years, from 1974 until last December.

While Israel had captured the entire Golan in 1967, it ceded eastern parts of the strategic plateau after the Yom Kippur War, establishing a buffer zone under Syrian civil control.

After the collapse of the Assad regime on December 8th of last year, Israel declared the 1974 separation of forces agreement null and occupied the buffer zone.

Since the establishment of the new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the two sides have engaged in talks, brokered by the Trump administration, aiming to secure a new security arrangement.

Al-Shaibani echoed recent comments by al-Sharaa conditioning a new deal on Israel’s withdrawal from the buffer zone.

“We will not sign an agreement with Israel without a withdrawal to the December 7 line,” al-Shaibani said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that Israel would maintain control over the buffer zones, including the summit of Mount Hermon, the highest point in the Golan.

Al-Sharaa told The Washington Post that his government would agree to nothing less than a full withdrawal from the buffer zone.

“We have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-December 8 borders,” al-Sharaa said.

“Today, we found that Mr. Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”