Netanyahu’s office says report that PM backed out of security deal with Syria in September is ‘complete fake news’

The Prime Minister’s Office dismisses as “fake news” a report published today alleging that the premier refused to sign a written security agreement with Syria in September over disagreements between the sides.

In the report by Saudi outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, sources say that Netanyahu and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa were preparing to sign the agreement, which has been under US mediation for months, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but the premier ultimately backed out.

“The report is complete fake news,” the PMO says in a statement. “There were contacts and meetings under US auspices, but matters were never brought to the point of agreements or understandings with Syria.”

Reuters reported at the time of the assembly that contacts between Israel and Syria regarding a new security agreement had reached a dead end due to Israel’s demand to open a “humanitarian corridor” into the Sweida province in southern Syria – where sectarian violence has killed hundreds of people from the Druze community, which Israel has vowed to protect.

Sources told Reuters that Israel requested early on in the talks to open a passage for delivering aid to Sweida, but Syria rejected the request, claiming it would harm its sovereignty. According to them, Israel repeated the demand later in the negotiations, leading progress on the agreement to stall.

US President Donald Trump recently warned Israel against destabilizing the new regime in Syria, and the security arrangement is expected to be a central topic of concern in Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with Trump later this month.