Syria and Israel hold US-mediated talks after recent Israeli strikes
What's new: Damascus said the sides discussed halting raids and arrests and reviving a draft security deal largely agreed earlier this year.
Syria and Israel held high-level talks in Jordan on Aug. 23 with US mediation, days after Israeli strikes on Syrian territory deepened tensions between the longtime enemies. Syria’s state news agency SANA said the meeting focused on practical steps to stop Israeli strikes, arrests and targeted operations, and to restart negotiations on a security arrangement. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani had said a day earlier that talks were likely to resume soon, though he stressed there was no trust after Israel’s Aug. 18 strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase and another strike near Damascus. Syria said it wants Israel to withdraw to positions held before Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow and to restore the 1974 disengagement agreement. The talks also covered efforts to keep Israel-Turkey rivalry from spilling further into Syria.