A Syrian and an Israeli official are expected to meet in Baku on the sidelines of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Azerbaijan, a diplomatic source in Damascus with knowledge of the issue said.
“There will be a meeting between a Syrian official and an Israeli official on the sidelines of the visit being conducted by Sharaa in Baku,” said the source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Israel is a major arms supplier to Azerbaijan and has a significant diplomatic presence in the Caucasus nation which neighbours its arch foe Iran.
The diplomatic source stressed that Sharaa himself would not attend the Baku meeting, which would focus on “the recent Israeli military presence in Syria”.
After the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria to prevent key military assets falling into the hands of the Islamist-led interim administration headed by Sharaa.
Sharaa has said repeatedly that Syria does not seek conflict with its neighbors, and has instead asked the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt its attacks.
Israel says the accord fell apart since one of the sides was no longer in a position to implement it, and that the military action in Syria was a defensive move to protect the country from potential hostile forces that could have exploited the power vacuum.
Israeli officials have referred to Sharaa as a terrorist due to his past affiliation with al-Qaeda.
But late last month, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel was interested in striking a peace and normalization agreement with Syria.
