Syria FM met Mossad chief in Jordan, AFP sources say

Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani met Mossad chief Roman Gofman in Jordan on Sunday, two sources told AFP, in talks that came days after an Israeli attack on an airbase in northwestern Syria.

A diplomatic source and a Syrian government source, both requesting anonymity, said Shaibani and Gofman discussed issues including establishing a “special operations room” in Jordan under US supervision to prevent confrontations in Syria, including involving Turkey.

The sources also said the two discussed Israeli incursions into southern Syria. The Syrian government source described the talks as the first negotiations between Israel and Syria in some time, while the diplomatic source said they were the first in several months.

The meeting, first reported by Axios, was not officially confirmed by either side. A spokesperson for the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told AFP they had no comment.

Israel on Tuesday bombed the disused Abu Duhur base in northwestern Syria, saying it wanted to prevent Turkish troops deploying there. Ankara denied any visit to the site.

Israel and Syria's new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks. After negotiations in January, and under US pressure, they agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism as they moved toward a security agreement.

Since the December 2024 overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and has sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan for decades.

The talks came a day after Israel struck what it said were militants in Syria near the Golan Heights. Damascus said one person was wounded and called the strike a violation of its sovereignty.