TEHRAN - The new government in Syria is resetting its regional relations, and a lot of focus is on what will happen with Israel, Al Jazeera said in an explainer on July 1.

There are reports of talks between Syria and Israel, with timelines even being floated for potential normalization between the two countries, which have technically been at war since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Syria and Israel have held direct talks, according to Israeli media, about potentially entering into a normalization agreement.

Communication between the two states has reportedly been facilitated by the United Arab Emirates, which established a backchannel for contact.

Any agreement would likely be an extension of the Abraham Accords, an agreement brokered by the United States between some Arab states and Israel.

The Abraham Accords were a top-down approach by Donald Trump during his first term as U.S. president to get Arab states to formalize relations with Israel.

They were signed in August and September 2020 by the UAE and Bahrain, and soon followed by Sudan and Morocco.

Since then, Trump has worked to expand the accords by pushing more countries to sign agreements with Israel.

Trump visited three countries in the Middle East in May, and, while in Saudi Arabia, he met Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and reportedly encouraged him to normalize relations with Israel.

Possibly down the road, analysts say, but right now it would be nearly impossible, according to Syrian writer and author Robin Yassin-Kassab.

There is a deep enmity between Syria and Israel, which heightened during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country would insist on its occupation of the Golan Heights in any deal with Syria, and the Israeli army has gone deeper into the Golan, occupying homes and expelling people from the area.

The normalization agreements with Israel remain deeply unpopular in the Arab world.

"We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization, while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests," Saar said at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday.

"The Golan will remain part of the State of Israel," he said, according to Reuters.

While most of the international community regards the Golan as occupied Syrian land, U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over it during his first term in office.

Also, a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday that Israel and Syria are holding “advanced talks” on a bilateral agreement halting hostilities.

The contacts are focused on coordination around security matters, said the official, who would not speculate on when a full peace deal between the two enemies could turn into reality.

“Could it develop into something beyond [security arrangements]?” the official asked. “We will wait and see. For now, there isn’t anything concrete.”

Many Syrians would oppose giving up the Golan to Israel, according to analysts. Still, many might welcome common-sense negotiations.

“Syrians are split … because on the one hand people are exhausted, everyone recognizes Syria cannot defend itself or fight Israel … so it’s good [al-Sharaa’s] negotiating,” Yassin-Kassab said, adding that a return to an agreement like the 1974 ceasefire is the most realistic option.

About a week after then-President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria in December 2024, Israel’s parliament voted on a plan to expand settlements in Syria – illegal under international law. There are currently more than 31,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied Golan Heights.

Syria, under al-Sharaa, has said it is open to peace with Israel and that it would uphold a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two states, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on December 8 – the day al-Assad fled to Moscow – that he viewed the agreement as void.

Israel attacked Syria repeatedly, destroying much of its military infrastructure and seizing Syrian territory near the border with Syria’s Golan Heights.

Syria would likely ask for Israel to withdraw from the newly occupied area under a new non-aggression deal, though reports say the Golan Heights have not yet been discussed.

In recent days, Israeli officials have said they are open to a deal with Syria, and Netanyahu reportedly asked U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack to help negotiate one.

Israel’s National Security Council head, Tzachi Hanegbi, has reportedly been overseeing discussions with Syrian officials. The talks include a U.S. presence and are in “advanced stages”, according to senior Israeli officials who spoke to The Times of Israel.

Figures close to al-Sharaa are reportedly asking for an end to Israeli aggression without Syria having to accept full normalization, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported.

Syria wants the Israeli attacks on Syrian territory to cease.

There are concerns over Israel’s expanded occupation of the Golan Heights among many Syrians; however, it’s unclear if al-Sharaa’s government will demand the return of the occupied parts.

Syria would, however, want Israel to pull out of the Golan proper and the parts it occupied over the last year.

Israel also threatened the new Syrian government not to deploy soldiers south of Damascus, a region near its border with Israel.

Israel has also tried to stoke sectarianism in this area, threatening to intervene to “protect the Syrian Druze” during sectarian-driven tensions between groups affiliated with the new Syrian government and Syria’s minority Druze community.

While many in the Druze community have shown a distrust of Syria’s new government, many have also denounced Israel’s threats of intervention as a calculated stunt to cause further discord among Syrians.

Netanyahu reportedly wants a security agreement – an update on the 1974 text – with a framework towards a total peace plan with Syria.

U.S. envoy Barrack claims the issue between Syria and Israel is “solvable” and has suggested they begin with a “non-aggression agreement”, according to Axios.

Such a continued occupation of the Golan would likely upset many Syrians.

“It’s too politically difficult [for al-Sharaa], even under American pressure and the continued threat of violence from Israel,” Yassin-Kassab said.

Israel also reportedly has additional conditions: no Turkish military bases in Syria, no presence of Iran or groups like Hezbollah, and the demilitarization of southern Syria.