Damascus acknowledges it has engaged in talks in Jordan with Israel to deescalate tensions following IDF airstrike aimed at preventing Turkey from establishing a presence in the country.By World Israel News StaffSyria confirmed Sunday that senior Syrian and Israeli officials held US-mediated talks in Jordan aimed at reducing tensions and reviving negotiations over a security agreement following a series of Israeli military operations on Syrian territory.Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani led the Syrian delegation, which also included the heads of Syria’s general and military intelligence services, according to the Syrian Foreign Ministry.Israeli reports identified Mossad director Roman Gofman as the head of the Israeli delegation.The meeting represented one of the highest-level direct contacts between Israel and Syria since tensions escalated following last week’s Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria.According to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, the talks focused on establishing practical arrangements to stop Israeli airstrikes, arrests and targeted military operations in Syria, while also examining a return to negotiations over a broader security agreement.The parties also discussed efforts to prevent growing tensions between Israel and Turkey from spilling into Syria.The Trump administration strongly encouraged the meeting as Washington attempts to prevent a confrontation involving Israel, Syria and Turkey and revive a diplomatic process that had made substantial progress earlier this year.The talks came less than a week after Israeli fighter jets struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib province, approximately 70 kilometers from the Turkish border. The attack reportedly involved at least eight bombs targeting runways and hangars.Israel said it carried out the strike after receiving intelligence indicating that Syria was preparing to allow Turkish forces to establish a military presence at the base, including radar and drone capabilities that Jerusalem considered a potential threat.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said following the attack that Syria had been close to violating an existing understanding concerning Turkish deployments.“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, adding that Jerusalem “will not tolerate threats to its security.”Damascus and Ankara denied that a permanent Turkish military deployment had been planned.Al-Shaibani acknowledged that Turkish military personnel had recently visited Abu al-Duhur, but said their presence was connected to Syria’s broader military cooperation with Turkey and reconstruction of the facility rather than preparations for a Turkish base.“There was no intention to establish a Turkish base there,” al-Shaibani said, adding that there was also no plan for a permanent Turkish troop deployment.Syria says the rehabilitation work at Abu al-Duhur was intended to restore the airfield for use by the Syrian military after years of damage during the country’s civil war.The dispute nearly derailed diplomatic contacts between Jerusalem and Damascus.Al-Shaibani said direct communications with Israel were suspended following the attack. The foreign minister nevertheless indicated over the weekend that Syria remained interested in returning to negotiations.“We do not trust Israel currently,” al-Shaibani told Reuters, while predicting that negotiations would nevertheless resume in the near future.The Syrian minister said Washington had been continuously pressing Jerusalem to return to the negotiating table and argued that the two countries had already made substantial progress toward an agreement before the latest deterioration in relations.According to al-Shaibani, Israel and Syria had agreed on paper to “almost everything” in a proposed security arrangement earlier this year.That proposal reportedly included several different security zones in southern Syria, including a buffer area in which only United Nations forces would be deployed, as well as additional zones allowing differing levels of Syrian military presence.Damascus says any eventual agreement must also include an end to Israeli strikes and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory seized following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024.Syria is seeking a return to the lines that existed before December 8, 2024, along with renewed implementation of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.The Syrian government reiterated during Sunday’s talks that it considers the Golan Heights Syrian territory, but indicated that negotiations over the territory’s ultimate status would come only at a later stage.Israel has held the Golan Heights since capturing the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War and applied Israeli law to the area in 1981. The United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan during Trump’s first administration in 2019.Israel, meanwhile, has reportedly established several conditions of its own for any new arrangement with Damascus.Israeli officials are seeking to prevent Turkish military forces from establishing themselves in Syria, maintain a demilitarized area on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and prevent the Syrian military from acquiring strategic weapons that could threaten Israel.Jerusalem is also demanding guarantees for the security of Syria’s Druze population and reportedly views any withdrawal from positions currently held by the IDF in the buffer zone as something that would occur only in return for significant diplomatic and security concessions.The talks also come as Washington tries to create a mechanism for managing the increasingly complicated relationship between Israel, Turkey and Syria.US special envoy Tom Barrack warned following the Abu al-Duhur strike that an unintended Israeli-Turkish confrontation could have serious consequences.Turkey has become one of the most important foreign supporters of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and has played a major role in training and rebuilding Syria’s armed forces.Israel has grown increasingly concerned that Turkish military assistance could eventually translate into a permanent strategic presence in Syria.The post Syria confirms high-level talks with Israel after airbase strike appeared first on World Israel News.