Israel and Syria holding secret talks via UAE on security, intel

The United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, three people familiar with the matter says, as Syria’s new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbor.

The indirect contacts, which have not been previously reported, are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between two states with no official relations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Syrian security source and a regional intelligence official say.

The first source describes the effort, which began days after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the UAE on April 13, as currently focused on “technical matters,” and says there is no limit to what may eventually be discussed.

The senior Syrian security source tells Reuters the backchannel is limited strictly to security-related issues, focusing on several counterterrorism files.

The source says that purely military matters, particularly those concerning Israeli army activities in Syria, fall outside the scope of the current channel.

The intelligence source says UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the mechanism, among others.

Syria’s presidency and the UAE foreign ministry do not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office declines to comment.

The mediation effort precedes Israeli strikes in Syria last week, which Israel says are aimed at protecting the Druze minority, and Reuters cannot establish if the mechanism has been used since the strikes occurred.

Informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at calming the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources and a regional diplomat. They decline to elaborate.

The explosive revelation comes as Sharaa arrives in Paris on his first official trip to Europe. He is expected to meet French leader Emmanuel Macron later in the day.