Syria state media says talk of peace deal with Israel 'premature'

Syrian state media reported on Wednesday that statements on signing a peace deal with Israel were "premature", days after Israel said it was interested in striking a normalisation agreement with Damascus, but conditioned this on the occupied Golan Heights remaining under its control.

"Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature," state TV reported an unidentified official source as saying.

"It is not possible to talk of the possibility of negotiations over a new agreement unless the occupation fully adheres to the 1974 disengagement agreement and withdraws from the areas it has penetrated," it added.

After the fall of Syria's Assad regime in December 2024 Israel claimed that the disengagement agreement was no longer in force and proceeded to occupy parts of a demilitarised buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights, and other areas of southwestern Syria.

It also launched a massive bombardment campaign to destroy Syria's strategic weapons. 

On Monday however, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country had an "interest in adding countries, Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours, to the circle of peace and normalisation while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests".

The statement came amid major shifts in the region's power dynamics, including the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December and the weakening of his ally, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, after Israel's war.

Syria's new authorities have confirmed they held indirect talks with Israel to reduce tensions.

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has repeatedly said Damascus does not seek conflict with its neighbours, asking the international community to pressure Israel into stopping its attacks.

Syria has said that the goal of ongoing negotiations is the reimplementation of the 1974 armistice between the two countries.

Saar insisted that the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations, "will remain part of the State of Israel" under any future peace agreement.

However this is likely to be rejected in Syria, where residents of the Golan Heights who fled the territory when Israel seized it and their descendants are demanding the restoration of Syrian sovereignty and the right to return.

Control of the strategic plateau has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war.