Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told Fox News that one of the issues preventing talks is Israel’s “occupation” of the Golan Heights.
President of Syria Ahmed al-Shara arrives for the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City.(photo credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)ByJERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a Monday interview with Fox News that Syria would not at this time enter into talks to join the Abraham Accords, but that perhaps US President Donald Trump’s administration would help in making such negotiations possible.
Sharaa cited Israel’s “occupation” of the Golan Heights as a reason Syria would not enter such talks.
“I believe that this situation in Syria is different from the situation of the countries who went on with the Abrahamic agreement,” Sharaa told Fox’s Gillian Turner. “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now.”
Sharaa’s answer came after Gillian noted that “Trump would like Syria to join the Abraham Accords.” She then asked whether Sharaa agreed with the accords’ “foundational principle,” which is that Israel had “the right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state.”
While Sharaa stated that Syria would not enter talks to join the Abraham Accords at this time, he floated the possibility that “Maybe the United States administration, with President Trump, will help us reach this kind of negotiation.”
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa seen with the background of Syrian and Israeli flags (illustrative) (credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI, SHUTTERSTOCK)
Sharaa’s nom de guerre while active in terror organizations, including al-Qaeda and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, was “al-Jolani,” honoring his parents, who were residents of the Golan Heights until 1967, when they fled due to the Six-Day War. Sharaa was born in Saudi Arabia.
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Sharaa’s interview with Fox followed a historic meeting between the Syrian president and President Trump at the White House. The event was the first such visit by a Syrian leader.
Israel-Syria agreement to be achieved before year’s end, Syrian official believes
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed that negotiations are underway on September 24.
The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.
The US plans for the presence in the Syrian capital, which have not previously been reported, would be a sign of Syria’s strategic realignment with the US following the fall last year of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran.
The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarized zone as part of a non-aggression pact between Israel and Syria mediated by the Trump administration.
Shaibani: ‘Israel pursuing expansionist projects’
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani warned that, in his view, Israel is “pursuing expansionist projects, exploiting recent changes in Syria and destabilizing the region,” during an interview with state-run Al Ikhbariyah TV in October.
“Israel wanted to impose a new reality and an expansionist project, exploiting the change that took place in Syria,” he said.
He also affirmed his view that Israel’s actions are reinforcing Syria’s instability.
His comments came amid the clashes in southern Syria between Bedouin and Druze populations, with Israel assisting the Druze with military strikes.
Sam Halpern, James Genn, and Reuters contributed to this report.
According to the source, Riyadh anticipates a return to the type of indirect communication with Israel that was facilitated by the US prior to the October 7 massacre.
US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman shake hands during a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025.(photo credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER)ByJERUSALEM POST STAFFUpdated: While normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is not yet imminent, efforts to lay the groundwork are underway, a source within the Saudi royal family told Kan News on Saturday.
The comment came as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to visit Washington in 10 days for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.
According to the source, Riyadh anticipates a return to the type of indirect communication with Israel that was facilitated by the US prior to the October 7 massacre.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud attend the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh in May. The deeper the Saudi-American partnership becomes, the less incentive Riyadh will have to normalize ties with Israel, the writer asserts. (credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)
Thawing the ice between Israel and Saudi Arabia
Kan reported that the talks would aim to “thaw the ice” between the two countries and help bridge positions that had grown more distant during the war.
Saudi sources stressed that normalization with Israel will not move forward without a two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
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Saudi officials viewed Kazakhstan’s recent decision to join the Abraham Accords as a positive development, Kan also reported.
Kazakhstan officially joined the Abraham Accords on Thursday following a trilateral phone call between US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Trump confirmed.
Kazakhstan’s signature of the accords will be the “first of many” of Trump’s second term, Trump said.
“This is a major step forward in building bridges across the World. Today, more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords.”
Via US-led truce mechanism, Jerusalem reportedly threatens to continue stepped-up strikes, saying terror group has smuggled hundreds of rockets and recruited thousands of members
Hezbollah fighters and supporters raise their fists and chant slogans as they march in the funeral procession of five comrades killed in Israeli strikes in recent days, in the southern town of Nabatieh, Lebanon, November 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Israel has warned Lebanon’s army that it is not satisfied with the actions taken so far against the Hezbollah terror group, vowing to continue its stepped-up bombing campaign unless the situation changes, a report said Saturday.
In a message relayed recently via the US-led mechanism to enforce the ceasefire between the countries, Jerusalem said Beirut hasn’t sufficiently been working to disarm Hezbollah, listing several steps the Iran-backed terror group has been taking, undisturbed, to rebuild its force, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
The unsourced report said Israel cautioned that Hezbollah is working to replenish its arsenal, in violation of the ceasefire reached last year, which required it to disarm.
The report said that in recent weeks, Hezbollah has smuggled hundreds of rockets from Syria into Lebanon, restored missile launchers damaged in the fighting with Israel, and enlisted thousands of new recruits.
“You aren’t doing enough against Hezbollah, not in pace and not in scale,” the broadcaster quoted the Israeli message to Lebanon as saying. “Without significant action in rural areas and private property, Israel will continue to forcefully attack.”
Since the ceasefire was reached in November 2024, Israel has carried out many strikes on Hezbollah targets it says posed an immediate threat, which the truce terms allow it to act against.
The Israel Defense Forces has recently stepped up these strikes, killing three Hezbollah members in two separate strikes on Saturday, after an intense bombing campaign on Thursday.
“The EU calls on Israel to cease all actions that violate resolution 1701 and the ceasefire agreement reached a year ago in November 2024,” the EU’s foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni stated.
“At the same time, we urge all Lebanese actors and especially Hezbollah to refrain from any measures or responses that could further inflame the situation,” he added.
“Focus by all parties must be on preserving the ceasefire and the progress achieved so far.”
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the village of Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon, November 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Israel’s war with Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, when the terror group began firing missiles at the Jewish state a day after the Hamas-led onslaught in the south. Israel launched massive airstrikes and a limited ground incursion in September 2024, killing much of the terror group’s leadership and destroying much of its fortifications along the border. A ceasefire was declared two months later, with Hezbollah left severely weakened.
Since then, the Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to disarm the terror group and has reportedly expended so much ordnance to blow up Hezbollah stockpiles that it has faced shortages of explosives. Hezbollah has vowed not to lay down its arms.
The Lebanese army has accused Israel of seeking to “undermine Lebanon’s stability” with the frequent strikes and to “prevent the completion of the army’s deployment” in line with the ceasefire.
Lebanon and Israel are still technically in a state of war, but all the recent armed conflicts with Israel were fought by Hezbollah, not the Lebanese military.
Hezbollah was the only movement in Lebanon that refused to disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war.
Emanuel Fabian and agencies contributed to this report.
