The United Arab Emirates has created a previously unreported backchannel for discussions between Israel and Syria, with three sources telling Reuters that Syria's new leadership is seeking regional support to manage increasingly hostile relations with their neighbor to the south.
The indirect contacts, Reuters reports, concentrate primarily on security and intelligence matters along with confidence-building measures between the two nations that maintain no official diplomatic relations. This information comes from multiple sources including someone with direct knowledge of the situation, a Syrian security official, and a regional intelligence officer.
Reuters noted that the initiative began shortly after Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa (known also as Abu Muhammad al-Julani) visited the UAE on April 13, with one source describing the current focus as "technical matters" while suggesting there are no limitations on potential future discussion topics. These backdoor communications predated recent Israeli strikes in Syria, including one that landed just 500 meters (547 yards) from Damascus' presidential palace, though Reuters could not confirm if the mechanism has been utilized since those attacks occurred.
The senior Syrian security source informed Reuters that the backchannel is strictly limited to security-related issues, particularly focusing on counterterrorism matters. This same source emphasized that purely military concerns, especially those related to Israeli army activities within Syria, remain outside the scope of the current communication channel.
According to the intelligence source who spoke with XXXX, the mechanism involves UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence personnel, and former Israeli intelligence officers, among others. All sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of these discussions.
Israel has framed its recent strikes as a message to Syria's new government in response to threats against Syria's Druze minority, an offshoot of Islam with adherents across Syria, Lebanon and Israel. According to one source and a regional diplomat who spoke with Reuters, informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at de-escalating tensions has occurred through other channels in the past week, though they declined to provide further details.
Syria's government has denounced Israel's military actions as escalatory and constituting foreign interference, while asserting that Damascus' new leadership is working toward national unification following 14 years of conflict. Reuters reports that Syria's new rulers have made repeated efforts to demonstrate they pose no threat to Israel, including meeting with representatives of Damascus' Jewish community and detaining two senior members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an organization that participated in the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
A letter from Syria's foreign ministry to the US State Department last month, reviewed by Reuters, stated: "we will not allow Syria to become a source of threat to any party, including Israel."
Israel has conducted military operations in Syria for years as part of an undeclared campaign targeting Iran and its allies, particularly Lebanese Hezbollah, whose influence expanded after supporting former President Bashar Assad during Syria's civil war. Israeli operations have intensified since rebels ousted Assad in December, with Israel declaring it will not tolerate an Islamist presence in southern Syria. Israeli forces have bombed what they identify as military targets across Syria and ground troops have entered southwestern regions of the country.
In February, Israel had lobbied the United States to maintain Syria in a decentralized and isolated state, basing this approach on suspicions about Sharaa, who previously led an al-Qaida branch before renouncing ties to the organization in 2016.
While the UAE government harbors concerns about the Islamist orientation of Syria's new leadership, the sources told Reuters that Sharaa's meeting with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in April was highly productive, helping to address some of Abu Dhabi's reservations. The sources noted the extended nature of the meeting, which lasted several hours and caused Sharaa to be late for a subsequent engagement.
The backchannel with Israel was established days after this meeting, according to Reuter's sources. Damascus views the UAE's ties with Israel, formalized in a historic US-brokered agreement in 2020, as a crucial avenue for addressing issues with Israel given the absence of direct relations between Syria and Israel.
