Allied Intelligence — 2026-08-28

Mossad Chief Gofman Met Syrian FM in US-Brokered Amman Talks on Security Arrangements and Golan Withdrawal

BLUFResumed US-brokered talks reveal incompatible preconditions on Golan positions and Turkish presence, making a published security arrangement by year-end unlikely despite Washington's sequenced pressure.

Mossad chief Roman Gofman met Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Amman on Sunday for US-mediated talks aimed at reviving a security agreement, following an Israeli strike on the Abu Duhur airbase in Idlib 12. Syrian state media reported that Damascus renewed demands for an Israeli withdrawal to pre-December 2024 positions and full restoration of the 1974 disengagement line, while reaffirming sovereignty over the Golan Heights 2. Sources in Damascus told The National that Israel raised nine military posts it established near the Golan after Bashar al-Assad's fall, along with the status of the Druze-majority Sweida governorate and concerns over Turkish military presence in Syria 1. The talks came a day before the US formally removed Syria from its state sponsors of terrorism list, a designation held for 47 years 1.

Analysis
Talks resuming in Amman days before Washington's formal removal of Syria from the terrorism-sponsor list signal Damascus and Jerusalem are testing a security bargain under direct US pressure, with Syria's nine contested Golan posts and Sweida's status the near-term friction points; independent secondary reporting corroborates the primary account's operational detail, indicating broad convergence rather than single-wire dependence, with high confidence. A published Golan/disengagement update by year's end is unlikely, since Israel is conditioning withdrawal on political concessions Damascus has not offered and Turkish-Israeli rivalry complicates the terms. The meeting may function less as a step toward agreement than as US-choreographed messaging timed to soften the delisting rollout. Stalled talks force Washington to choose between pressing Israel on withdrawal terms or letting the delisting stand as the only near-term deliverable, a choice sharpened by Gofman's simultaneous recusal from the Qatargate probe implicating the prime minister's office.

2 sources

Syria secret talks with Israel revealed as US drops terror designation - The National
Syria, Israel hold US-mediated talks in Jordan to de-escalate tensions - Al Jazeera