President Ahmed al-Shara of Syria said on Wednesday that Syria had held indirect talks with Israel to contain escalating tensions, days after Israeli jets struck the capital, Damascus, amid deepening sectarian violence inside the country, reports The New York Times.
“There are indirect talks through mediators to calm down the situation so that they don’t get out of control,” Mr. al-Shara said after a meeting in Paris with President Emmanuel Macron of France.
It was Mr. al-Shara’s first trip to a European country since ascending to power, marking a pivotal moment in the Syrian leader’s bid to reintegrate Syria into the international community.
But the news of indirect talks between Syria and Israel was a startling admission from the Syrian president, whose country has long had hostile relations with Israel. Mr. al-Shara did not say who the mediators in the indirect talks were, and the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment.
Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates had set up a back channel for talks between Israel and Syria, but Lana Nusseibeh, an official at the Emirati foreign ministry, denied those claims as “categorically false” in a statement.
Since Islamist rebels overthrew the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes inside Syria, the latest of which followed deadly clashes between pro-government forces and militias from Syria’s Druse minority, whom Israel has pledged to protect.
Mr. Macron criticized those Israeli strikes on Wednesday, saying, “You can’t ensure your country’s security by violating the territorial integrity of its neighbors.”
Mr. Macron also provided a diplomatic boost to Mr. al-Shara, stating that he would push to gradually lift European Union sanctions on Syria, provided that the country’s new leaders maintain their path toward stability.
Read more of this report from The New York Times.