Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday confirmed that his country was currently taking part in indirect talks with Israel. Reports earlier in the day said that the United Arab Emirates had facilitated a backchannel for dialogue between Jerusalem and Damascus.

The talks were first reported by Reuters, citing three people familiar with the matter, who said that they were set up after al-Sharaa’s visit to the UAE on April 13, and are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two states, which have no official relations.

Sharaa said Wednesday that backchannel negotiations are aimed at “easing tensions and preventing the situation from spiraling out of control for all involved parties.”

He added that “the Israeli intervention (military incursion into Syrian territory) constitutes a violation of the 1974 agreement” between Israel and Syria, and emphasized that since taking office, he has been committed to upholding this agreement.

Sharaa also stated that Syria is reaching out to any country with ties to Israel in an effort to pressure it to halt what he described as interventions and attacks in Syria.

He made the remarks during a press conference following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The visit marks the first trip by the Syrian president to Europe since he assumed office.

A Syrian security source described the effort to Reuters as currently focused on “technical matters,” and said there was no limit to what may eventually be discussed.

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

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

The intelligence source said UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in........

© The Times of Israel