Possible agreement reached between Damascus and Tel Aviv over Golan Heights: Report

Egypt Independent

14 hours ago

At the heart of the decades-long Syrian-Israeli conflict, the Golan Heights looms large.
It remains one of the most sensitive and complex issues in a Middle East currently undergoing major political transformations.
Syria has now found itself at a crossroads, faced between continuing the way or listening to the temptations of de-escalation.
A historic deal
The Israeli channel i24NEWS revealed on Friday that it has presented two possible scenarios for a 'historic' peace agreement between Syria and Israel, according to a Syrian source close to Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The Israeli channel reported the source as saying that 'the agreement will not be free,' indicating that Damascus, 'Will demand at least a third of the occupied Golan Heights as an essential part of any peace understanding with Israel.'
The Syrian source, who remained anonymous, said that the first scenario involves dividing the Golan Heights into three parts.
Israel would retain one-third of the strategically important areas, return one-third to Syrian sovereignty, and lease the remaining third from Syria to Israel for 25 years.
The second scenario would see Israel retain two-thirds of the Golan Heights and return the remaining third to Syria – with the possibility of similar leasing arrangements.
In what was seen as a sign of a shift in the official Syrian position, the source explained that Sharaa had demonstrated unprecedented openness to communicating with Israel, and opened direct channels of communication related to security and military coordination in southern Syria.
The source emphasized that the recovery of any parts of the Golan Heights, including those seized by Israel after the collapse of the former regime's authority, is essential to gaining Syrian public support for any potential agreement.
According to the source, recovering parts of the Golan Heights is not just a negotiation demand, but a political and social condition for ensuring the legitimacy of any peace agreement within Syria.
He noted that local public opinion would not accept such a move without tangible gains regarding territorial sovereignty.
Despite these leaks reported by the Israeli channel, no official comment has yet been issued by either the Syrian or Israeli sides.
The return to disengagement agreement
The Syrian Foreign Ministry announced that Damascus is ready to cooperate with Washington to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, according to Agence France-Presse.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement also reported that Minister Asaad al-Sheibani, during a call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, expressed Syria's interest to cooperate with the US to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement, noting that the two sides discussed the repeated Israeli attacks on southern Syria.
Syrian sources reported that intensive talks were underway to reach a peace agreement.
They indicated that there was pressure on the US mediator to agree to a less drastic option, such as announcing security arrangements along the Syrian-Israeli border.
This would include an Israeli withdrawal from all Syrian territory it entered after December 8, when Bashar al-Assad's regime was overthrown, in exchange for a Syrian declaration that the two countries are no longer at war, according to Syrian media reports.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm