Syria open to security deal with Israel

Syria is seeking to reach a security agreement with Israel, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday.

He said a deal could pave the way for comprehensive peace between the two countries without compromising Syria's right to the Golan Heights, an area that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981.

Sharaa said Syria was trying to involve a large group of countries to pressure Israel to adopt a more balanced policy towards Syria.

"We are avoiding getting into confrontations," he added.

Soon after former Syrian President Bashar Al Assad fell to rebel forces advancing under Sharaa's leadership in December 2024, Israeli troops pushed into Syria and seized strategic territories. Israeli troops moved into a demilitarized zone inside Syria, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, which overlooks the capital Damascus.

Since then, the Israeli military has launched strikes on Syria and detained individuals from within the country. Israel has also intervened in what it calls missions to protect ethnic minority Druze in southwestern Syria.

On Sunday, Israeli forces shelled areas in Syria and destroyed an electrical transformer in the village of Maariyah, depriving homes of power, Syria's state news agency SANA said. 

Sharaa's comments coincided with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visiting Syria, the first trip by a United Nations chief to the country since 2009. 

In a statement on X on Sunday, Guterres called for respect for Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity. 

"Violations by Israel of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement are unacceptable & must stop," Guterres said.    

Last year, Sharaa, who is trying to rehabilitate Syria's image, became the first Syrian president since 1967 to take part in the U.N. General Assembly in New York. His government is seeking to rebuild international ties and the local economy after nearly 14 years of war and decades of isolation and death under Assad family rule. 

Sharaa also said his government is "not considering military interventions" in Lebanon. The Iran-backed Shiite Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Sharaa fought on opposing sides of the Syrian civil war.

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Sharaa about combating Hezbollah, after criticizing Israel for killing too many civilians in Lebanon.