Syria’s foreign minister met with Mossad chief to try to ease tensions. And Washington meanwhile hopes to relaunch its regional strategy
Evidence of thaw between Jerusalem and Damascus. On Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani had a meeting with Mossad director Roman Gofman. According to what was reported by the Syrian news agency Healthythe talks between the two “focused on creating concrete mechanisms to stop Israeli attacks, arrests and targeted operations”, as well as “on relaunching negotiations for a lasting security agreement between the two sides”. The same outlet also reported that the two also addressed the need to ease tensions between Israel and Turkey.
The meeting took place after, at the beginning of last week, the Jewish State had carried out a bombing of a base located in the Syrian province of Idlib: a move that the Israeli government had justified, claiming that the Damascus regime had agreed to Turkish troops to deploy there. Denied by Ankara, this accusation was instead confirmed by Jerusalem.
Be that as it may, the Israeli raid had greatly angered the United States. The American ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, had in fact criticized the Jewish state, claiming that that bombing could have led to a direct armed conflict between Jerusalem and Ankara. A position, that of the Washington diplomat, which had in turn deeply irritated the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz. Furthermore, it is no mystery that, in addition to having strengthened relations with Turkey, the Trump administration has long been in favor of mediating a détente between Israel and the pro-Turkish regime in Damascus.
In this respect, the talks between Gofman and al-Shaibani can also be read as an attempt, hoped for by the White House, to ease the tension between Israel and Turkey. Since the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023 against the Jewish State, the two countries have seen a progressive deterioration in relations. Not only that. The Israeli security apparatus now considers Ankara one of its main regional rivals. Yet, on Sunday the Times of Israel reported that Israel and Türkiye had established “confidential contacts” to address the thorny issue of the Syrian crisis. Therefore the conversation between Gofman and al-Shaibani represents an attempt to relaunch the regional strategy promoted by the United States. Only time will tell whether it will be successful or not.
