DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syria’s de facto leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the former Al-Qaeda affiliate who now heads the country’s interim government, has revealed that Damascus is actively working toward a security agreement with Israel with the participation of several countries.
Speaking ahead of his expected trip to the UN General Assembly, al-Jolani described the proposed security arrangement as “necessary so that Israel will respect Syria’s airspace and territorial space,” while insisting that “peace and normalization are not on the table right now”.
The overture comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made his first visit to Damascus since 2009, meeting with al-Jolani over the weekend.
Despite the developments, Israeli forces pressed ahead with military incursions in southern Syria. 
On Sunday, Syrian media reported an incursion into the villages of Maariya and Al-Ardah in the Yarmouk Basin of western Daraa province, with Israeli forces establishing a checkpoint and dropping warning leaflets on residents. Artillery shelling was also reported near Tarnajah village in Quneitra province.
Since al-Jolani’s rise to power following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, Israel has declared the 1974 disengagement agreement void and deployed troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights. 
Israeli officials have stated their intention to maintain a “security zone” in southern Syria—a position al-Jolani’s foreign minister has called “a direct threat to the security of the region”.
Al-Jolani, who was formerly a deputy to Al-Qaeda in Iraq and later broke away from Daesh, has been seeking to rehabilitate his image since 2016, when his organization Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham cut ties with Al-Qaeda. 
The security arrangement under discussion would reportedly include demilitarization of southern Syria and security guarantees for minority groups, with the United States playing a mediating role. 
Reports indicate multiple rounds of talks have taken place, including meetings in Baku and Paris, though Israeli officials have warned that signing an agreement with al-Jolani’s takfiri regime could limit Israeli freedom of action for future invasions and occupations.
Al-Jolani acknowledged that “Israel seeks to partition Syria” but maintained his government was engaging in dialogue to prevent fragmentation. Critics argue the former takfiri leader has traded national sovereignty for regime survival, with Israeli forces having conducted over 1,000 airstrikes and some 400 ground incursions into Syrian territory since he took power.
The Syrian leader also confirmed Damascus has no intention of intervening in Lebanon, despite regional tensions, and addressed domestic issues including the management of cases involving missing persons from Syria’s war. 
He noted that authorities have established a special committee operating according to international standards.