Syria's HTS foreign minister in US for security talks with Israeli officials

Syria's Western-backed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-led (HTS) administration is reportedly accelerating talks to finalize a series of US-brokered deals with the Israeli regime this year.

Media outlets quoting an HTS official reported on Thursday that several agreements were expected to be signed "by the end of the year".

"Primarily, these would be security and military agreements," he said, adding there would be a focus on "an agreement to halt (Israeli) military operations inside Syria." 

Syria’s de facto foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, landed in Washington on Thursday to hold talks with the Israeli regime’s officials.

According to US news outlet Axios, Shaibani earlier met with Israeli minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, in London on Wednesday.

The meeting was a continuation of previous discussions. The two men also met in August in Paris, under the auspices of the US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack.

Israeli media reports have already revealed covert negotiations between Israel and Syria’s Hay’at HTS-led administration in recent months.

The officials from both sides have met on several occasions since Western-backed Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, once affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh, was installed as president in Damascus.

Syria's al-Qaeda-linked rulers, Israel hold talks brokered by US in Paris

The de facto foreign minister of Syria has engaged in US-brokered discussions with an Israeli delegation in Paris.

Israel has conducted repeated acts of aggression across the Syrian territory following the collapse of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize several strategic locations. 

Israel has expanded its military footprint in southwest Syria, conducting hundreds of airstrikes aimed at weakening Damascus’s capabilities under the HTS-dominated regime.

Israeli forces have deployed to at least nine posts deep inside southern Syria, mostly within the UN-monitored buffer zone, citing the need to counter Takfiri threats. However, this deployment serves as cover for a broader strategy of territorial expansion through both military aggression and settler incursions.

Israeli forces keep raiding southern Syria amid HTS inaction

Israeli troops regularly carry out raids across various parts of Syria following collapse of Assad government in December.

Rather than resisting the ongoing Israeli invasion, HTS’s inaction and normalization overtures toward Tel Aviv have emboldened Israeli forces to intensify their occupation campaign.

During a regional visit, US President Donald Trump announced plans to lift sanctions on the HTS administration in return for normalization with Israel.

Al-Jolani has pledged to recognize Israel and establish diplomatic ties by the end of 2026, signaling a dramatic shift for a group long designated as a terrorist organization.

The HTS-led regime will reportedly hand over the occupied Golan Heights to Israel as part of a looming normalization deal with the illegal entity.

EU lifts sanctions against Syria as HTS moves to normalize ties with Israel

The European Union has lifted economic sanctions imposed against Syria, as the new administration in the Arab country expressed readiness to normalize ties with the Israeli regime.

The momentum toward normalization stalled after HTS forces were accused of massacring hundreds of Druze civilians in Sweida province, an event that Israel cited as justification for opening a corridor to the region.

Rights groups have documented the violent deaths of nearly 10,000 people in Syria since al-Jolani was installed as president in Damascus.

Despite its brutal track record, HTS has recently been courted by Western powers.

Critics argue that the United States and Israel are exploiting HTS’s control in Syria to promote instability and further their strategic ambitions in the region.

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