Al-Sharaa Says Israel-Syria Talks Reached '90% Agreement' Before Stalling

A RARE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa offered one of his most extensive public assessments yet of Israel-Syria relations on Tuesday night, speaking at an Atlantic Council panel in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. He revealed that direct talks between Damascus and Israel have been underway for roughly a year with American involvement, and that negotiations at one point reached "almost 90%" agreement before stalling.

"Syria chose to go through diplomacy and to solve that problem through talks and negotiations, as well as seeking the help of countries that are friendly to Israel, including the United States," al-Sharaa said. "There were several sessions of negotiations with Israel, and we almost reached 90% of agreements." He said that each time the sides neared agreement, Israel pulled back or introduced additional conditions, though he stressed the channel remained active. "We are still engaging in this track," he said.

'IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE' FOR OCTOBER 7 TO SET POLICY

Asked whether he understood the trauma Israeli society experienced after October 7, al-Sharaa said he did, but argued the attack could not be the basis for Israel's broader regional policy toward Syria. "I understand what happened on October 7 to some of the innocent people," he said. "But at the same time, it is not possible that all policies are set based on an incident that happened in history." He contrasted the October 7 toll with the more than 70,000 people he said have been killed in Gaza, adding: "It is not appropriate that what happened on October 7 sets the policy for Syria. This is not logical, and this brings more security threats. If you want to protect your own security, you need to respect the security of others."

He also directly criticized continued Israeli military activity inside Syria. "Why has Syria been bombed for two years, every day?" he asked. "There are indiscriminate arrests taking place in Syria. Even the presidential palaces have been bombed twice by the Israeli army. Our airports are being bombed, as well as all the military airports that we have. Will that bring security to the Israeli citizen?"

A PHASED PATH AND A FIRM LINE ON THE GOLAN

Al-Sharaa outlined what he described as a phased process: Israel would first need to withdraw from territory it entered after the fall of Bashar Assad's regime in December 2024 and return to positions associated with the 1974 disengagement line, after which the sides could move into security arrangements and, eventually, talks toward lasting peace.

On the Golan Heights, however, he drew a firm line, saying Damascus regards the territory as Syrian and that its ownership is not open to negotiation. Asked about President Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, al-Sharaa recounted a joking exchange during a White House visit: "When he said about the Golan Heights that Israel has sovereignty, I said, 'Why don't you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don't own the Golan Heights to give it to them, but you own New Jersey, and I believe New Jersey is full of Democrats, and they are not voting for Trump.'" He turned serious afterward: "Regardless of this joke, the Golan Heights belong to their own people. It is neither the Syrian president nor the American president nor any other person who can abandon them or give them up to others."

PAST QUESTIONS, NO DIRECT RENUNCIATION

The panel's moderator raised al-Sharaa's history as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and his 2013 pledge of allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, asking if he now explicitly renounced it. Al-Sharaa did not offer a direct renunciation, saying instead: "I don't believe that it is appropriate to discuss things that happened 25 years ago. I was at a different age, and the conditions in the region were different." On the September 11 attacks specifically, he was unequivocal: "I had nothing to do with that. At the time, I was 13 years old. I didn't know anything about this stuff."

WHY IT MATTERS

Al-Sharaa's remarks are the clearest public confirmation yet that Israel and Syria came close to a substantive agreement this year, details that had previously circulated only in diplomatic backchannels. With talks still technically alive but stalled, and with al-Sharaa tying any future peace track to an Israeli withdrawal first, his UN-week comments set the terms Damascus says it needs before negotiations can move forward.