Syria's HTS suspends communications with Israel after airport attack
Syria’s ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime has suspended contacts with the Israeli regime following an attack on an airport in northern Syria, though it hopes negotiations with Tel Aviv could resume to conclude a security pact that allows the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Arab country.
The Syrian regime's foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Sunday that communications with the Israeli regime had been suspended after Israel attacked Abu al-Duhur airbase in the northern Idlib province on August 18.
Shaibani said that Israel had been notified before the attack that the airbase “would not become a Turkish base,” an excuse frequently used by Israel to target areas in northern Syria.
The minister said, however, that Syria hopes Israel would seize a "historic opportunity" to conclude a security agreement with Syria as part of negotiations that stalled several months ago and were aimed at forcing Israeli forces out of Syrian territory.
“We expect negotiations with Israel on a security agreement to resume soon, which we hope will lead to its withdrawal from Syrian territory.”
Enjoying the support of the United States, Israel has had a free hand in launching attacks on Syria since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024.
The regime has justified the attacks and the presence of its military forces in Syria by saying that it should create a so-called security zone along the Arab country’s borders with occupied Palestine.
However, the scope of Israeli attacks has reached beyond areas in southern Syria, targeting key facilities in the north of the country where Turkish forces are present.
Syria, under its new leadership, has failed to respond to the incursions, saying it is willing to sort out its problems with Israel through diplomacy and with US mediation.
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