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Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has confirmed that negotiations are underway aimed at reaching a security agreement between his state and Israel.
Israel has repeatedly carried out attacks in war-torn Syria since Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power in December last year. Israel and Syria, which have been officially at war since 1948, reached a ceasefire agreement in 1974.
The agreement, brokered after the 1973 war, created a safe zone in the Golan Heights under United Nations supervision to separate Israeli and Syrian forces.
"Israel considers that with the fall of the regime, Syria has withdrawn from the 1974 agreement, even though Syria has shown its commitment to the pact from the very beginning," al-Sharaa said in a television interview.
"Negotiations are currently underway for a security agreement so that Israel can return to its position before December 8. The negotiations have not yet been concluded," he told Syrian state television al-Ekhbariya, referring to the day al-Assad was ousted from power.
Last month, Israel and Syria held direct talks under the mediation of the United States. The Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981, are a major point of contention. Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights is not recognized internationally.
Israel deployed additional troops to the area after the fall of al-Assad and has since intensified airstrikes in Syria, saying it is aiming to prevent Syrian weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.
Israel has also bombed southern Syria and the capital, Damascus, in what it says is an effort to protect the Druze minority, following deadly violence that erupted in the Syrian province of Suwayda, a stronghold of the Druze religious minority. The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion they say is an offshoot of Islam.
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