Israel has announced it is “interested” in concluding peace agreements with neighboring Lebanon and Syria, in what could be a historic breakthrough for the region after decades of war and hostilities.
With Syria under new leadership following the fall of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement weakened, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters that his government wants more normalization agreements with Arab countries.
“Israel is interested in expanding the circle of peace and normalizing the Abraham Accords,” Saar said of the agreements Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, with US mediation.
“We have an interest in adding countries – Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors – to the circle of peace and normalization, while at the same time protecting Israel’s essential and security interests,” Saar said at a press conference in Jerusalem alongside his Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger.
Control of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war.
Saar insisted that the strategic plateau, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations, would “remain part of Israel” under any future peace deal.
After Assad’s ouster in December, Israel moved forces into a demilitarized zone on the Golan that is patrolled by UN peacekeepers and has carried out hundreds of strikes on military targets in Syria.
Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon has been reduced since it emerged from a conflict with Israel last year, sparked by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, however, has continued to strike Hezbollah despite a ceasefire in November.
There was no immediate reaction from Lebanese or Syrian officials to Saar’s remarks.
The latest attempt at peace comes after a 12-day war between Israel and Iran that ended last week and as pressure mounted on the Israeli government to halt its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, a senior US diplomat in the region said an Iran-Israel ceasefire could pave the way for a new Middle East.
“What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say, ‘Pause. Let’s create a new path,'” said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria.
“The Middle East is ready for a new dialogue, people are tired of the same old story,” the US diplomat told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, AFP reported.
