Syrian, Israeli officials to meet again in Baku

Shafaq News – Baku

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani is set to meet with Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer on Thursday in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, a diplomatic source told AFP.

The meeting will focus primarily on the security situation in southern Syria and will follow al-Shibani’s scheduled visit to Moscow the same day, according to the source.

This will mark the second meeting between the two ministers, following a similar US-brokered encounter held in Paris last week.

Damascus recently acknowledged indirect talks with Israel focused on restoring the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the Golan buffer zone.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar indicated a potential policy shift late last month, saying “Israel is open to pursuing a peace and normalization agreement with Syria.”

Israel, a key arms supplier to Azerbaijan and a prominent diplomatic actor in the Caucasus, has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. Israeli forces also entered the UN-monitored buffer zone on the Golan Heights, conducting further operations in southern Syria.