Katz insists IDF will maintain presence on Syrian Hermon, as Israel said in talks with Damascus on security deal

Defense Minister Israel Katz declares that the IDF will maintain its positions on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and in security zones needed to protect Golan Heights and Galilee communities from threats emanating from Syria, calling it a “key lesson” from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Katz says that Israel will also continue to defend Druze communities in Syria, which have faced recurring violence in recent months.

His comments come after US envoy Thomas Barrack visited Israel Sunday for discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Syria and Lebanon, amid reports that Jerusalem is close to securing an understanding with Damascus.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa confirmed to Arab journalists that his government was in “advanced” negotiations with Israel on a security agreement, telling Sky News Arabic that any deal would be based on the 1974 disengagement lines. Sharaa stressed that while the time was not right for a peace treaty, he would accept any arrangement that benefits Syria and the wider region.

Channel 12 reported Sunday that the emerging deal would see Syria’s side of the Golan Heights demilitarized, the restoration of the Syrian army blocked in sensitive areas, strategic weapons barred from entering Syria, and a humanitarian corridor established to Jabal al-Druze. In return, Syria would receive reconstruction assistance from the US and Gulf states.