Israeli Media, US Ambitions, and Damascus Denials

Coinciding with a US-Qatari brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran, a series of suspicious reports circulated about the imminent normalization between the Zionist entity and Syria.

In several locations in Tel Aviv, banners were hung discussing the so-called "Israeli Coalition for Regional Security" and the "Abraham Shield Plan" to complete normalization with Arab countries, including Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli media was suddenly filled with news of normalization with Syria, stating: "Direct talks between Syria and Israel are addressing the normalization of relations, and Syria will cede the Golan in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from new territories it occupied after the victory of the Syrian Revolution in December 2024."

This was accompanied by American and Israeli statements claiming that the next wave of "Abraham Accords" would include Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Since these reports originated only from Israel, analysts considered them false news, while opponents of the new Syrian regime viewed them as betrayal and collaboration, even though Damascus did not comment on these (Israeli-origin) reports and ignored them.

Others considered them fishing expeditions and bad faith on the part of the occupation, arguing that they were reports or claims not worth commenting on, and perhaps their goal was to implicate the Syrian leadership and increase pressure on it.

Further confusion arose from the announcement by US President's Special Envoy, Steve Whitkoff, on June 25, 2025, that Washington would soon make an important announcement regarding regional countries joining normalization agreements with Israel, or what are called in American and Israeli terms, the "Abraham Accords." Whitkoff told CNBC: "We expect many countries to normalize their relations with Israel."

Previous and current US administrations have held several discussions with Saudi Arabia with the aim of including it in the normalization axis with Israel, but the war of annihilation in Gaza has stalled this file, and Washington is seeking to include other countries in the normalization train.

The Story of Normalization

The story of this normalization with Syria began with the deliberate act of the so-called "Israeli Coalition for Regional Security," announced via posters on Tel Aviv buildings, publishing a photo of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa among 10 Arab leaders, most of whom were already normalizers, appearing on the Israeli poster.

The publication of Al-Sharaa's photo with the normalizing Arab leaders was surprising! Even stranger, it was preceded by an Israeli campaign claiming that Damascus allowed the occupation's planes to operate from Syrian airspace to bomb Iran and repel its missiles, which is an incorrect claim; because Syria does not even possess an air force or defensive batteries to prevent Israel.

Then, Israeli newspapers began publishing a series of reports about the upcoming normalization as if it were a fait accompli, amidst skepticism from Syrians about what the Zionist media was broadcasting and their denial of the possibility of normalization with the occupation.

On June 26, the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth claimed that Israel and Syria were preparing to normalize relations and that the expected agreement between Syria and Israel includes officially annexing the Golan to Israeli sovereignty. It also claimed that under the agreement, Israel would defend and stabilize the Syrian regime.

The Israeli Foreign Minister stated that if there was an opportunity to sign a peace or normalization agreement with Syria on condition that the Golan remains with them, that would be positive for Israel's future.

Then, on June 27, the Israeli i24 channel quoted an unnamed Syrian source (who might be Druze or Kurdish) as saying that Israel and Syria would sign a peace agreement before the end of 2025, claiming that the Golan Heights would become a peace park under the agreement.

The source claimed that under the aforementioned agreement, Israel would gradually withdraw from all Syrian territories it occupied after invading the buffer zone on December 8, 2024, including the summit of Mount Hermon. Meanwhile, on June 28, the Hebrew Channel 12, quoting a Syrian source, claimed that the agreement includes Israel's withdrawal from all Syrian territories it seized after December 8.

When US President Donald Trump met with the Syrian President for the first time in Saudi Arabia in May 2025, he invited him to normalize with Israel, and in exchange for lifting sanctions, Trump demanded five key things, most notably concluding a normalization agreement with Israel.

Syria's Stance

All that has been issued by Syria regarding contact with the Israelis was President Al-Sharaa's statement during a meeting with dignitaries from Quneitra and the Golan on June 24: "We are working to stop Israel's aggressions through indirect negotiations," without mentioning direct negotiations or normalization. He also reiterated this during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

He spoke about ongoing indirect negotiations through international mediators to stop Israeli aggressions and incursions into his country's territories. This is the second time Al-Sharaa has announced the occurrence of indirect negotiations with Israel.

On May 7, Reuters quoted three informed sources as saying that the UAE had opened a back channel for talks between Syria and Israel, and that the indirect communications focused on security, intelligence, and confidence-building issues between two countries that do not have official relations.

The Israeli occupation has intensified its aggressions and incursions into southern Syria recently, coinciding with several statements and leaks regarding Syrian-Israeli contacts under US sponsorship aimed at reaching understandings and possibly new agreements that go beyond the disengagement agreement signed by the two sides in 1974.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights. It exploited the new situation in the country after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime, occupied the Syrian buffer zone, and declared the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides.

It also occupied the strategic Mount Hermon, which is only about 35 kilometers from the capital Damascus, is located between Syria and Lebanon, overlooks Israel, and can also be seen from Jordan. It has four peaks, the highest of which is 2814 meters long.