Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel is willing to reach an agreement with Syria — the kind of deal President Donald Trump publicly urged just a day earlier — but only if Damascus agrees to respect the security buffer zone Israel considers essential to its defense.
“In a good spirit and understanding, an agreement can be reached with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles,” Netanyahu said while visiting Israeli soldiers injured last week during an operation against militants in southern Syria.
The latest flare-up occurred Friday, when an attempt by IDF troops to arrest two suspected militants in the border town of Beit Jinn turned into a deadly shootout. Syria’s state-run media claimed 13 people were killed; Israel reported six soldiers wounded, three severely. The clash heightened tensions between the two countries, which have fought multiple wars since 1948 and have never reached a formal peace.
For years before the current Gaza conflict, Israel maintained a targeted air campaign in Syria aimed at preventing Iran — formerly aligned with Bashar al-Assad — from building military infrastructure along the Israeli border. Assad’s fall last year, toppled by a lightning offensive led by current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, dramatically altered the landscape. Unlike Assad, Sharaa is a fierce opponent of Iran’s regime, a shift welcomed by Washington.
President Trump on Monday urged Israel not to undermine Sharaa’s efforts to stabilize Syria and rebuild the country after more than a decade of civil war. In a Truth Social post, he warned Israel to maintain constructive dialogue and avoid actions that could derail Syria’s “evolution into a prosperous State.” Trump called the moment a “historic opportunity” for Israel and Syria to pursue a long-term peaceful relationship.
Discord between Jerusalem and Damascus has frustrated U.S. officials, who have thrown their support behind Sharaa and lifted sanctions as part of a strategy to steer Syria away from Iranian influence. But Israel’s security establishment remains cautious — pointing to Sharaa’s past as a militant tied to al Qaeda and questioning whether he can reliably prevent hostile factions from reemerging along Israel’s northern frontier.
After Trump’s public call for restraint, the president spoke directly with Netanyahu by phone to discuss postwar Gaza issues and potential avenues to “expand peace agreements.” Netanyahu’s office said Trump invited the prime minister to visit the White House “in the near future.”
When Assad’s regime collapsed a year ago, Israel quickly occupied a 155-square-mile buffer zone inside Syrian territory to prevent Iranian proxies or other hostile groups from moving closer to Israeli towns. Israeli officials have said since then that IDF forces may need to remain in parts of Syria for an extended period.
Netanyahu reiterated Tuesday that Israel insists the entire corridor from Damascus to the Israeli border be demilitarized and that Syria guarantee protections for the region’s Druze minority — a community with deep ties to Druze citizens inside Israel. He also pointed to fears of a repeat of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, which left nearly 1,200 Israelis dead and resulted in hundreds of hostages taken into Gaza.
Israel remains deeply concerned that even under new leadership, Syria may not be willing — or capable — of preventing militant groups from establishing footholds near the border. Syrian officials counter that Israel’s military presence hampers their efforts to stabilize the country.
For Netanyahu, any agreement with Syria must begin and end with ironclad security guarantees — something Israel has long demanded and is unlikely to compromise on, regardless of shifting politics in Damascus or Washington.
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