DUBAI: Syria and Israel were on the brink of signing a peace agreement in February 2011, right before the Arab Spring protests broke out in several states, newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Officials involved in the negotiations confirmed to the outlet that the agreement “went further than any previous document,” and included Syria’s pledge to sever “military ties” with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon and “neutralizing” any Israeli threat so they could reclaim the Golan heights after Israel occupied them in the 1967 war.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiations were mediated by American envoy Frederic Hof, the report added. The late Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem and legal advisor Riad Daoudi and former US Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford joined at least two meetings.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that at the time the then US President Barack Obama and his then former Vice President Joe Biden, current president, were aware of these secret negotiations, and that ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heavily involved in them too.
Syria has not made any official statements regarding the talks, but has repeatedly expressed commitment to restoring sovereignty over Golan heights while maintaining the “strategic relationship with Iran.”
Syria and Israel: secret negotiations over Golan for severing Iranian, Hezbollah ties
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Syria and Israel: secret negotiations over Golan for severing Iranian, Hezbollah ties
- Officials involved in the negotiations confirmed to that the agreement “went further than any previous document”
- Syria has not made any official statements regarding the talks
