While Gaza Starves, Damascus Shifts: Al-Shara’a’s Embrace of Israel – Analysis

By Robert Inlakesh

The Syrian government has openly confirmed indirect negotiations with Israel, deepening fears that Damascus is shifting away from the Palestinian cause even as Israeli attacks continue across the country.

Following his cordial meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara’a publicly announces that indirect negotiations with Israel are ongoing. This comes amidst an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria, frequent airstrikes, and the annexation of land.

Since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December of 2024, the new Syrian leadership has repeatedly signaled its intent to not only protect Israeli security interests but also to normalize ties. 

While all of the information regarding potential secret Syrian-Israeli negotiations had previously been isolated to leaks and unnamed officials, Ahmed al-Shara’a openly announced in Paris that indirect negotiations are taking place, aimed at “easing tensions and preventing the situation from spiraling out of control for all parties involved.”

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The announcement confirmed a Reuters report that cited unnamed officials revealing secret negotiations between Damascus and Tel Aviv, mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A source cited in the report claimed that the negotiations began only days after al-Shara’a’s visit to the UAE, on April 13, stating that while “technical matters” were the current focus of the negotiations, there was “no limit” to what would be discussed.

This public announcement by President al-Shara’a came as a particular shock to many Syrians, especially following the largest Israeli aerial attack on Syria since December, this weekend, and one of the most intense in decades. Israel even bombed right next to the Presidential palace the day prior and issued a direct threat to the leader in Damascus.

While Syrians have continually held pro-Palestine protests and demonstrated for their government to respond to Israel’s invasion, ongoing for four months, the response from their new President has been precisely the opposite.

During his first weeks in office, Syrian Security Forces opened fire on members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), while many Palestinian leaders formerly based in Damascus fled the country. The message was very clearly communicated from the outset that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the PFLP, and other Palestinian groups were no longer welcome to operate in Damascus in the way they had under the former regime.

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In mid-April, Syrian Security Forces then arrested two leaders of the PIJ movement’s armed wing, confirmed initially by the group’s official statement, affirming that Khaled Khaled, who heads Islamic Jihad’s operations in Syria, and Yasser al-Zafari, who heads its organizational committee, were imprisoned for five days without reason. After public backlash built for over a week, Damascus issued a statement claiming they were arrested for possessing unregistered firearms, yet provided no proof. 

Following the recent large-scale bombing of Syria, not only did the Syrian leadership refuse to respond, but it also decided that the following morning, it would detain the Secretary General of the PFLP-GC, Talal Naji. In addition to this, Syrian Security Forces reportedly arrested a man in Idlib who is responsible for running a successful donation campaign to help the people of Gaza.

It has also been reported that a special committee is being put together in Damascus, which will specifically be designed to deal with, in other words, crack down upon Palestinian movements inside Syria.

Only a few weeks ago, two US officials who visited Damascus and attended a meeting with al-Shara’a publicly stated that he is eager to normalize ties with the Israelis and seeks to join the so-called “Abraham Accords”. This appeared to have been in line with an earlier report that indicated Syria’s leadership had planned to normalize relations with Israel within the next year. 

In addition to this, Syria’s government was formerly caught using a map of the country missing the illegally occupied Golan Heights. Israel has made it abundantly clear that they will not only refuse to give back the Golan Heights territory they officially annexed, originally occupied in 1967, but will additionally hold onto the territory they seized since December of 2024. 

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Ironically, al-Shara’a was called Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – meaning of the Golan Heights – for the majority of his public life; during his time as a Daesh commander and then the head of Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch. Interestingly enough, as the leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Shara’a was actually supported by Israel. In fact, al-Nusra fighters were provided with weapons, finances, and were given medical support in Israeli field hospitals. 

Israel has so far signaled that it is not ready to normalize with Syria, however, as it openly seeks to balkanize the country and occupy more territory, which al-Shara’a is allowing the Israelis to do, abandoning groups of local Syrian resistance fighters when they attempted to repel the occupying forces near southern Syria’s Dara’a. While Dara’a called for support from Damascus, it was met with disarmament attempts instead.

The recent announcement has caused great disappointment amongst many Syrians who initially believed al-Shara’a was going to adopt a pro-Palestinian posture. Now the reality is setting in that the new government in Damascus is not just neutral on Palestine, it is already holding talks with Israel, refusing to defend its own territory, and is repeatedly signaling its intent to sell out the Palestinian cause. 

Bringing particular shame to many supporters of the new Syrian leadership, it is doing this at a time when nearly 2 million Palestinians are being slowly starved to death in Gaza and during an ongoing genocide. Meanwhile, Yemen, which had endured what was the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, up until the Gaza genocide, continues to escalate its efforts to defend the Palestinian people from around 2,000 kilometers away.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.