ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Tuesday held a rare meeting with Ron Dermer, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister and top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Paris. The discussions, reportedly mediated by the US, come as Syria struggles to maintain control over Druze-majority areas in the south, where protesters recently called for separation from the Syrian state.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported Tuesday that Shaibani met with “an Israeli delegation” in Paris to “discuss a number of issues related to enhancing stability in the region and southern Syria.” The talks, “held under US mediation,” are “part of diplomatic efforts aimed at promoting security and stability in Syria and preserving its unity and territorial integrity.”
While SANA did not disclose the identities of the Israeli officials involved, Israeli media reported that Shaibani met with Dermer - reports confirmed on Wednesday by another Syrian state outlet, al-Ikhbariya channel.
According to SANA, the discussions centered on “de-escalation, non-interference in internal affairs, reaching understandings that support stability in the region and monitoring the ceasefire in the [predominantly Druze] Suwayda province” in southern Syria.
Clashes broke out on July 13 between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes in Suwayda. The conflict escalated with the involvement of Syrian government forces before a US-brokered ceasefire was announced on July 19.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported in mid-August that the death toll from the Suwayda violence had reached 1,677, including “452 civilians field-executed” by Syrian government forces. The monitor has reported near-daily ceasefire violations since mid-June.
Israeli role
Amid the Suwayda violence, Israel conducted airstrikes targeting Syrian military and government sites.
Israel’s stated reason for the strikes - which included the bombing of a Syrian defense ministry building in Damascus - was to protect the Druze community, citing deep cultural and familial ties between Israeli and Syrian Druze.
However, beyond humanitarian concerns, Israel's intervention seems to have also been driven by long-standing strategic interests in Syria - particularly its aim to maintain a demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria near its borders.
In early December, a coalition of opposition forces - then spearheaded by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), under Ahmed al-Sharaa, led a swift offensive toppling the regime of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa in late January became Syria’s interim president.
Since then, Tel Aviv has intensified efforts to destroy Damascus’s military stockpiles and its forces have entered buffer zones east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Israel had captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1974, a US-brokered Disengagement Agreement created a UN-monitored buffer zone to reduce tensions by delineating separation lines between Syrian and Israeli forces without establishing formal peace.
According to SANA, Shaibani’s meeting with the Israeli delegation also discussed “reactivating the 1974 agreement.”
Backchannel diplomacy
Despite being technically at war since 1948, this Paris meeting marks the second recent engagement between Shaibani and Dermer. A previous meeting took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on July 31, also prompted by the Suwayda unrest.
The Baku talks reportedly included US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, who later confirmed the meeting stating, “Our goal was dialogue and de-escalation, and we accomplished precisely that.”
On Tuesday, Barrack posted a photo on X with Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, who had urged Israeli intervention during the Suwayda clashes. Barrack described their meeting as “warm and informative,” adding: “We discussed the situation in Suwayda and how to bring together the interests of all parties, de-escalate tensions, and build understanding.”
Shaibani’s Paris meeting also followed protests in Suwayda on Saturday, which saw Druze demonstrators wave Israeli flags and call for self-determination. In video footage shared online, some protesters were heard demanding to join Israel.
In response, interim President Sharaa, speaking during a dialogue session with dignitaries from Idlib province late night on Saturday, warned against any movement toward partition.
“We have toppled the [Assad] regime in the battle for the liberation of Syria, and we still have another battle ahead to unify Syria. This must not be with blood and military force,” he said.
Hinting at the Suwayda protests, Sharaa added, “Some parties are trying to seek strength from a regional power - Israel or others. This is a very difficult matter and cannot be implemented.” He called the idea of dividing Syria “impossible.”
In a similar vein, Shaibani and Dermer were cited by the state-run media outlet al-Ikhbariya on Tuesday as reaffirming “commitment to the unity of Syrian territories and rejecting any projects aimed at their division.”
The two sides emphasized that “Suwayda is an integral part of Syria and that the Druze citizens are an authentic part of its national fabric.”
