Fares Nimri. CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Composite story

Syria and Israel hold U.S.-mediated talks in Jordan

Damascus and Jerusalem met in Amman after Israeli strikes on a Syrian air base. Syria wants raids halted and a security deal; Israel’s red lines and Turkey remain in the mix.

Syria and Israel held U.S.-mediated talks in Amman on Sunday after Israeli strikes on the Abu al-Duhur air base. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani led a delegation that met a high-level Israeli team, reported to include Mossad chief Roman Gofman. Damascus wants practical steps to halt Israeli raids and a return to a security deal, plus an Israeli pullback to pre-Dec. 8, 2024 lines. Israel is described as setting red lines on Turkey, the Golan, and weapons. Coverage splits on whether the meeting is a de-escalation or a stall.

Shared facts

Mossad chief Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met on Sunday.

Jordan hosted a high-level U.S.-mediated meeting on Sunday with Shaibani, Syrian intelligence chiefs, and an Israeli delegation.

Discussions focused on practical mechanisms to halt Israeli attacks, arrests, and targeting.

Tensions rose after an IDF strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria last week.

The Syrian side included Shaibani and the heads of general and military intelligence.

Discussions also aimed at reviving negotiations toward a security agreement.

The sides discussed easing Israel–Turkey tensions so the rivalry does not spill onto Syrian territory.

Channel 12 reported the sit-down was positive and a step toward restarting direct talks.

Channel 12 said Israel’s red lines include no Turkish military in Syria, a demilitarized Syrian Golan, no Syrian strategic weapons, Druze security, and withdrawal only for diplomatic gains.

Shaibani said Syria is extending its hand toward peace and diplomacy.

Contacts were suspended after the Israeli attack on Abu al-Duhur last Tuesday.

Shaibani said the mechanism should stop attacks and lead to a security agreement and Israeli withdrawal.

The Israeli military has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria over the past year.

There was a trilateral meeting in January.

The negotiations were frozen after the Iranian-Israeli war.

Most of the Israeli-held posts are in a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on the border.

Israel accused Damascus of preparing to allow Turkish forces to deploy at the base.

Syria stressed that any security arrangements must respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Shaibani said Israel attacked the airbase even after Damascus said it would not become a Turkish base.

Shaibani called for a historic opportunity to be seized while diplomacy remains open.

Shaibani said the sides had agreed on almost everything on paper, including an end to Israeli attacks and non-interference.

Syria also sought full restoration of a 1974 disengagement agreement.

Syria reiterated that the occupied Golan Heights were Syrian territory.

Previous rounds produced an agreement for intelligence sharing.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since Assad’s fall in December 2024.

Shaibani said peace and the Golan could be opened later.

Disputed facts

None yet.

Shared opinions

Shaibani said it is very difficult to bet on Israel.

Disputed opinions

The writer says Amman and the U.S. appear to be paving the way for better Israel–Syria engagement.

Al Jazeera

Syria, Israel hold US-mediated talks in Jordan to de-escalate tensions

Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters

24 Aug 2026

Facts

Netanyahu and Erdogan have traded barbs since the airbase strike.

Opinion

Mneimneh said Syria fears becoming a battlefield between Israel and Turkey.

Mneimneh added that Syria was "afraid that the country will become a battlefield" between Israel and Turkiye and was concerned about Israel's territorial grab in the country, stretching "all the way to Hermon, to Jabal al-Sheikh in its totality almost, and all the way to three southern provinces".

attribution · Hassan Mneimneh

Mneimneh said Syria’s aim is to avoid the disintegration of its authority after Assad’s fall.

So, from the Syrian perspective, Mneimneh added, the talks with Israel seem to be aimed at avoiding "the disintegration of Syrian authority" as well as ensuring any conflict between Israel and Turkiye does not prevent Syria from "forming, establishing, consolidating polity after the fall of" al-Assad.

attribution · Hassan Mneimneh

SANA

Diplomatic source: Syrian-Israeli meeting held under U.S. mediation to de-escalate

SANA

23 Aug 2026

Facts

The meeting followed recent Israeli strikes and rising tensions in southern Syria.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

Al-Monitor

Syria, Israel hold US-mediated talks to ease tensions, Syria news agency says

Feras Dalatey

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not reply to a request for comment on Shaibani’s remarks.

Israel said the strikes were necessary to protect its security.

Syria has denied posing a threat to Israel and demanded an end to Israeli strikes and incursions.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it, a move recognized by the United States but not by most of the world.

Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

The Washington Times

Syria, Israel hold U.S.-mediated talks after strike on air base

Vaughn Cockayne

24 Aug 2026

Facts

President Ahmad al-Sharaa has remained publicly open to negotiating with Israel.

Netanyahu has remained skeptical that Syria’s new government is stable enough to combat Islamic terrorism.

Sharaa has repeatedly said Syria poses no threat to Israel.

Israel has used the occupied territory as a staging ground for what it calls counter-terrorism operations.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack called the attack an unnecessary escalation and an assault on regional stability.

Barrack said Israel had not informed U.S. security officials of the strike ahead of time.

He had said Israel had not informed U.S. security officials of the strike ahead of time and that the attack was likely an attempt to bait Turkey into a larger confrontation.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz rejected the accusation last week, insisting that its forces informed Syrian military officials and relevant authorities in the U.S. before the attack.

attribution · Tom Barrack

Israeli forces also struck official Syrian military targets last year during Druze–Bedouin fighting in the south.

The strike caused unspecified damage and no casualties.

Turkey and Israel have traded barbs over Gaza and over Turkey’s support for groups such as Hamas.

Opinion

Barrack said the attack was likely an attempt to bait Turkey into a larger confrontation.

The strikes risk further inflaming Turkey–Israel tensions that have worsened since the Iran war began.

The Times of Israel

Mossad chief meets Syrian FM in effort to defuse tensions after airstrike

Nava Freiberg and ToI Staff

23 Aug 2026

Facts

They discussed a U.S.-supervised special operations room in Jordan to prevent confrontation in Syria, including involving Turkey.

The two met in Jordan, two sources told AFP, adding that they discussed issues such as establishing "a special operations room" in Jordan under US supervision to prevent any confrontation in Syria, including involving Turkey.

attribution · AFP sources

Axios reported the meeting was aimed at lowering the temperature after escalating rhetoric.

Channel 12 said the Trump administration pushed for the meeting to de-escalate ahead of the Israeli election.

Channel 12 said Israel’s security establishment is pushing politicians toward diplomacy rather than military escalation.

The TV network also reported that Israel's security establishment is pushing politicians to follow through on diplomatic efforts to lower the flames, preferring that to a potential military escalation.

attribution · Channel 12

Channel 12 said the meeting had been scheduled for last week and was pushed off because of the strike.

Netanyahu said Israel had warned Turkey against military activity in Syria ahead of the strike.

Reuters reported Gofman and Shaibani spoke by phone about Turkey’s military presence days before the strike.

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment to Axios on the meeting.

The meeting took place despite an Israeli drone strike on Saturday in southwest Syria.

Israel said it deployed to protect its security after the rise of the new jihadist-led regime.

Damascus condemned the drone strike; the IDF said it targeted an operative preparing attacks.

Israel and Syria held direct talks last year on a security agreement that did not materialize.

Channel 12 said Israel’s defense establishment has seen more Hezbollah weapons-smuggling from Syria into Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Channel 12 also reported Sunday that Israel's defense establishment has recently identified an increase in Hezbollah's attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon, as the terror group works to rearm and rebuild under cover of the ongoing ceasefire.

attribution · Channel 12

A security official said Iran’s Quds Force is financing and running the smuggling network.

A security official cited by the network said Iran is financing and operating the smuggling network through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, which continues to oversee the transfer of weapons into Hezbollah's hands.

attribution · Israeli security official

Israeli officials assess that many Hezbollah shipments still reach Lebanon despite some seizures.

The official said many shipments are getting through undetected.

Opinion

A security official said Hezbollah is exploiting the ceasefire to rearm via Syria.

The Jerusalem Post

Israel strike in Syria may push US to broker deal between Jerusalem and Damascus - analysis

Seth J. Frantzman

24 Aug 2026

Facts

The writer ties that approach to Trump-backed ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.

Shaibani said there was no follow-up from the January meeting.

Syrian state media is portraying the engagement as heading in the right direction.

Shaibani said the sides have now taken a step backward.

Clausewitz argued that military operations and politics are entwined.

The Trump administration has turned to Jordan before regarding Syria.

In 2017 the U.S., Russia, and Jordan agreed on a southwestern Syria ceasefire.

Jordan has carried out airstrikes against drug smugglers in southern Syria in recent years.

Jordan has ties with Israel.

That ceasefire collapsed in 2018.

Jordan supports the new Syrian government.

In 2018 Jordan took in the White Helmets after Israel helped evacuate them via the Golan.

Jordan is a friend of the U.S., the U.K., and Gulf Arab states.

Opinion

The writer says Israel has long used military power to send messages and wring concessions.

The writer says much depends on whether Jerusalem will climb down from some of its rhetoric.

The writer says the outcome will also depend on what the U.S. can arrange.

Shaibani said Israel has tried to preserve its security through hard power and has not succeeded.

The writer says there are limits to how effective military force will be for Israel.

The writer says Syria believes the U.S. can help get to a deal.

The writer says talk of a new de-confliction mechanism linked to talks in Jordan is key.

The writer says that episode showed how Amman could play an important role.

The writer says Jordan continues to play a pragmatic role.