The Syrian government has agreed to open an Israeli liaison office in Damascus.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Nahar reported on Wednesday that a Syrian source close to the head of the Syrian interim government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, stated that “Syria is interested in establishing a joint security operations room with Washington and opening an Israeli liaison office in Damascus, but on condition that this office does not have diplomatic status.”
The source stated that “Damascus has a positive approach to the US proposal to strengthen bilateral relations, establish a joint security-military operations room to establish security and stability in southern Syria, and disarm illegal militias.”
The Syrian source noted that “Syria has no objection to opening an Israeli liaison office in Damascus, provided that this office does not have a diplomatic nature.”
He added that “Israel has urgently asked Washington to postpone a decision on a security agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) until its own security agreement with Damascus is finalized.”
According to the source, Israel may try to exploit the tensions between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Druze in Sweida in its negotiations with the Syrian government.
On Tuesday, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barak proposed the establishment of a joint operations room between the US, Syria and the Israeli regime in Jordan at the Paris meeting.
According to this proposal, the current deployment of forces at the borders will remain unchanged. Barak proposed that the joint operations room deal with political, military, and intelligence cooperation issues.
According to Barak’s proposal, the border area between Syria and the Israeli regime should be transformed into an economic zone, which will be established with investment from the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf.
The US, the Israeli regim,e and Syria issued a joint statement on Tuesday at the end of their trilateral meeting in Paris.
The joint statement at the end of the meeting, published by the US State Department, states: Senior Israeli and Syrian (regime) officials met in Paris under the auspices of the US.
The statement continued: “The two sides have decided to establish a joint coordination mechanism and a dedicated communications unit to facilitate immediate and ongoing coordination on information exchange, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, and trade opportunities, under the auspices of the United States.”
The statement concluded by adding: “This joint statement reflects the spirit of today’s important meeting and the determination of the parties to turn a new page in their relations for the benefit of future generations.”