Syria, Lebanon could normalise ties with Israel before Riyadh: Israeli ambassador

Syria and Lebanon could potentially normalise ties with Israel before Saudi Arabia does, Israel’s ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said in remarks earlier this week.

Leiter made these comments on the right-wing American media platform PragerU, during a podcast interview that was published Thursday.

"I’m very upbeat about the potential for an Abraham Accord with Syria and Lebanon, and that may actually precede Saudi Arabia. It’ll happen with a wink from Saudi Arabia," he told PragerU CEO Marissa Streit.

The US has for years mediated talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia to forge a normalisation deal, but to no avail. The kingdom's neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalised ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, as did Morocco.

Riyadh has repeatedly said it will only normalise ties with Israel if Palestinians are granted a sovereign state, something the Israeli far-right and ultranationalists have refused.

"In 2019, they weren’t very far away. If President Trump had remained in office in 2020, we probably would’ve reached that point – a complete normalisation with Saudi Arabia," said Leiter.

He claims that the two countries are still on that path but are facing difficulties due to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza that has killed close to 54,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

On Lebanon, Leiter suggested that disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group could speed up a deal between Beirut and Tel Aviv.

"The ceasefire we have in Lebanon is a performance-based ceasefire … to the degree that Lebanon disarms Hezbollah, to that degree, we’re moving towards accommodation and peace," Leiter told PragerU 

A 27 November ceasefire deal ended more than a year of hostilities between the Shia Hezbollah group and Israel, including a two-month all-out war.

Under that deal, the Lebanese state is to completely disarm Hezbollah and have a monopoly on all arms in the country, and the Lebanese army must deploy heavily across the south and control all borders.

The Israeli military must completely withdraw from southern Lebanon. But while most of its forces have pulled out, Israel has maintained troops in five positions inside Lebanese territory along the border, claiming they will remain there until Hezbollah no longer posed a threat. It also conducts near-daily strikes in south Lebanon, vowing to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding itself.

"We removed our troops, we have five installations along the border, we’ll remove them too as soon as we’re convinced that Hezbollah is not moving back," Leiter said.

"So, it’s performance-based, we’re moving in the right direction."

Many officials in Lebanon have warned against attempts to pressure Beirut into normalising ties with Tel Aviv. The issue remains largely unaccepted in Lebanese society which views Israel as a permanent, sworn enemy.

The US has pushed Lebanon into starting direct talks with its southern neighbour to solve a number of issues, including discussing border demarcation, releasing Lebanese prisoners captured by Israel in last year’s war, and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Some are concerned that these talks would be a prelude to a wider deal that could see Lebanon formally recognise its longtime foe. They have said the most Lebanon could do at this stage was revive the 1949 truce agreement between the two countries.

US deputy envoy Morgan Ortagus has said previously that she did not discuss normalisation with Lebanese officials during her trips to Beirut.

Israel’s offensive in Lebanon killed over five thousand people, including many civilians. Strikes destroyed large parts of southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and parts of the east – areas considered strongholds of Hezbollah.

Leiter’s comments came days before 25 May, which this year marks the 25th anniversary of when Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon ended.

On Syria, Leiter said Trump should have not rushed to lift US sanctions on the war-torn country.

After making the historic announcement from Saudi Arabia earlier this month, Trump met with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh and told him that he hoped Syria would join the Abraham Accords.

Syria has not indicated that it will, but the United Arab Emirates has reportedly mediated direct talks between Israeli and Syrian officials recently.

Israel has occupied Syria's Golan Heights since 1967, and following the collapse of the Assad regime in December, it has captured more territory in southwest Syria, alleging security purposes.