Al-Monitor reported on Tuesday that talks between Israel and Syria have included discussions on the possibility of US troops deploying to areas of southwestern Syria that Israel captured following the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Immediately after Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Israel invaded southern Syria, capturing a buffer zone that was established in 1974 between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria’s territory, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, and also took more territory in the Daraa and Quneitra Governorates.
Sources told Al-Monitor that under a potential quasi-normalization/border deal, US troops could replace the Israeli presence on Mount Hermon, and Syrian government forces could be deployed to the buffer zone to prevent forces hostile to Israel from entering the areas.
The report said that the discussions have not included anything about the side of the Golan Heights that Israel has occupied since 1967 and annexed in 1981, a move not recognized by any other country until the Trump administration did so in 2019.
The US has been very friendly with the new Syrian government that’s led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the founder of al-Qaeda in Syria, who rebranded in 2016 to gain international support. His group of jihadists, known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led the offensive that ousted Assad, and he has become the country’s de facto president.
President Trump recently signed an executive order lifting the majority of US sanctions on Syria. In exchange, the US is hoping for some sort of deal between Israel and Syria. According to Al-Monitor, Israel now views the 1974 disengagement agreement, which established the buffer zone along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as obsolete.
The US has been drawing down its number of troops in Syria, but it is planning to maintain a long-term military presence in the country. The US is expected to close its bases in northeastern Syria and keep fewer than 1,000 troops at its base at al-Tanf in the south, which is about 160 miles east of the Israeli-occupied areas of southwest Syria.
