Syria, Israel agree to intelligence sharing, continued diplomatic talks with U.S. supervision

Israel and Syria have agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing program and have committed themselves to further diplomatic communications, signaling progress in the U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two Middle East nations.

Syria, Israel and the U.S. announced Tuesday in a joint statement that Damascus and Jerusalem had agreed to create a “joint fusion mechanism [that will] facilitate immediate and ongoing coordination on their intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic engagement, and commercial opportunities under the supervision of the United States.”

The mechanism will serve as a platform to mediate disputes between Israel and Syria, according to the release, and it will likely play a large role in the U.S.-brokered negotiations.

“The United States commends these positive steps and remains committed to supporting the implementation of these understandings, as part of broader efforts to achieve enduring peace in the Middle East,” the statement reads. “When sovereign nations cooperate in a respectful and productive way, prosperity will be unleashed.”

The statement follows months of high-stakes negotiations between Israeli and Syrian diplomats overseen by U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack. The two sides met this week in Paris to iron out the details of a security agreement that could establish a clearly defined southern border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The Paris meeting was the first official round of negotiations in months, and marks the fifth round of talks between Israel and Syria.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who previously led an al Qaeda affiliate group during the Syrian civil war, has repeatedly insisted that his country wants a stable peace with Israel and the reestablishment of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, which created a buffer zone in southern Syria and a permanent ceasefire.

The buffer zone created under the 1974 agreement stayed in place for 50 years until the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the winter of 2024. After Mr. al-Assad’s ouster, the Israeli military invaded the zone, and it has occupied large areas of southern Syria ever since, using the territory as a staging ground for what Jerusalem calls anti-terrorist operations.

Those operations, which have also been carried out against Syrian security forces, have put a strain on negotiations, with Mr. al-Shraa insisting that they do nothing to improve security and peace for his country.

Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been skeptical of Mr. al-Sharaa’s leadership and his ability to curb extremism in Syria. Deadly clashes between Syrian security forces and Kurdish, Druze and Alawite minority groups in the past year have not eased the fears of al-Sharaa critics in Israel, who say his Islamist past is a marker of his future goals.