Israel likely to sign landmark security agreement with Syria

Update: In January 2026, the US announced the deal had been signed.

Israel and Syria are about to sign a bilateral security agreement regarding their common border along the Golan heights.

The importance of this event cannot be overstated, as no such diplomatic development has taken place between the two countries since the disengagement agreement at the end of the Yom Kipur war, five decades ago.

The agreement about to be formalized is far from being a peace treaty.  

Nevertheless, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the Syrian president, was quoted saying to Arab journalists in Damascus, that the upcoming agreement will set the ground for further confidence building measures and possibly, when the circumstances are right, towards a future peace agreement.

These public statements by the Syrian president are the peak of months-long efforts by the new ruler to gain western trust, support and mitigate the chances of Israel destabilizing his regime.

Al-Sharaa knows very well that any chance he has to rebuild Syria after the decade long destructive civil war is dependent of massive western support. In order to secure this vital support, he must calm international community fears, demonstrating that he has abandoned his radical Islamist past and can control the Jihadist groups, which brought him to power and still operate under his regime.