Syria and Israel agree to accelerate talks as raids continue in the south

Syria and Israel have agreed to intensify negotiations over a security agreement following several hours of US-mediated talks in Paris, according to US media.

Both sides have come under pressure from the Trump administration to de-escalate tensions after Israel seized swathes of the country's south in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December 2024.

Damascus has demanded that Israeli forces withdraw from its territory, while Israel has refused to pull back until it demilitarises the whole of southern Syria.

The US has led several rounds of talks, though little progress has been made towards an agreement amid repeated Israeli attacks on Syria's military and near-daily provocations in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Daraa.

Monday's talks were attended by Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and intelligence chief Hussein al-Salama. The Israeli side included senior military and national security officials and Israel's ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter.

Among the US team mediating the discussions were US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack and key Trump advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

US and Israeli officials told Axios that the two sides agreed to meet more frequently in an effort to reach an agreement.

"Both countries expressed a desire to reach a security agreement under President Trump's vision for the Middle East," a senior Israeli official said, adding that they agreed to take confidence-building measures to build trust.

This was the fifth round of US-backed talks but the first in two months after negotiations stalled.

Trump reportedly pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return to negotiations during his visit to the US last month.

Fresh Israeli raids in Quneitra

Israeli forces launched fresh incursions into southern Syria on Tuesday morning, hours after the talks in Paris, according to state media.

More than a dozen military vehicles entered several towns in the Quneitra countryside, setting up checkpoints and searching houses.

Soldiers in 12 vehicles entered the village of Saida al-Hanout while a smaller force stormed the town of Beer Ajam, state news agency SANA said.

Troops set up a checkpoint near Saida al-Golan, while another group entered the village and searched a house, media activist Youssef al-Maslah told Al Araby Al Jadeed, the Arabic-language sister site of The New Arab.

This was the second consecutive day of Israeli provocations in the area. On Monday, soldiers opened fire on a flock of sheep near the village of al-Rafid, killing five animals.

It comes a few days after the Israeli military raided the villages of Ain al-Zaywan, Ain al-Qadi, and Bariqa in the south of Quneitra province.

Israel has launched dozens of incursions in Syria since invading the south of the country in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December 2024.

Its military has occupied hundreds of square kilometres of Syrian territory in Quneitra and Daraa provinces and established new military bases and checkpoints.

Soldiers have frequently detained and intimidated residents and have cracked down on journalists working in the region.

Israel has justified the aggression as necessary to protect its security, though Syrian residents and local authorities have accused it of exploiting the country's instability to entrench a de facto land grab and strengthen control over border areas.