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QAMISHLI, syria/" class="auto-internal-link">syria (North Press) – Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani stated on Saturday that an agreement with Israel could be reached before the end of the year, stressing that any deal must be based on the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and include a full Israeli withdrawal to the Dec. 7, 2024 line. In an interview with Al-Majalla, al-Shaibani stated the emerging framework would largely mirror the 1974 accord, which established areas free of armed forces troops, police-only zones, and regulated armed forces presence at specific distances.
He added that any emerging arrangements would be “temporary confidence-building measures,” not permanent changes. Additionally, “We firmly reject any suggestion of discarding the 1974 framework in favour of an entirely emerging deal,” al-Shaibani said, adding that the agreement was endorsed by the UN security Council and remained binding. “There is no justification for that. Any attempt to take advantage of our current circumstances to seize additional territory is unacceptable to us,” he noted.
Al-Shaibani verified that the U. S. has pledged to press Israel to withdraw to the Dec. 7 line, but emphasized that Syria would not sign any agreement before such a step takes place. “At present, there are efforts to impose a new reality on the ground, then negotiate an agreement later,” he indicated. “We reject that approach entirely.
In fact, ” He added that Syria is open to limited military restrictions in the south as part of security arrangements, provided they do not infringe on national sovereignty or alter existing security structures. “Any security failure in the south will be blamed on the syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian administration. No one else will be held accountable. ” Al-Shaibani described the discussions as an opportunity for Israel, saying damascus is now openly committed to negotiations and a security agreement—unlike the former regime. He stressed that Israel’s security concerns could be addressed directly but reiterated that “the Golan Heights will remain the central issue” of any future peace treaty. “Our primary focus is rebuilding Syria,” he said. “If a peace treaty is desired, that can be discussed after a security agreement is reached, but the Golan Heights will remain the central issue in any such treaty. ” By Jwan Shekaki