DAMASCUS, July 5 (TNF): Syria said on Friday that it is ready to work with the United States to restore the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel. The deal created a UN-monitored buffer zone between the two countries’ forces.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani shared this position after a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio. In a statement, he said Syria looks forward to cooperating with Washington to re-implement the agreement.
The US has been leading diplomatic efforts to secure a peace deal between Syria and Israel. US envoy Thomas Barrack said last week that peace between the neighbours is now essential. Barrack told The New York Times that Syria and Israel are holding “meaningful” US-brokered talks to resolve their border conflict.
Since the fall of Bashar Al Assad in December, Israel has sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone. It has also carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites in Syria and made deeper incursions into the south.
Syria and Israel remain technically at war since 1948. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel seized about two-thirds of the Golan Heights. It annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised by most of the world.
The 1974 deal set up an 80-kilometre-long buffer zone, monitored by the UN, between Israeli-occupied land and the Syrian-held side.
English