00:00In a region long defined by hostility, a surprising new chapter is taking place.
00:18Israel and Syria, bitter force for decades, are now quietly talking.
00:23Not true bombs or air strikes, but backchannel diplomacy.
00:28For the first time, in over a decade, officials from both sides are engaging in serious talks,
00:34mediated by the United States to cool tensions along the border and build further relations.
00:40This fragile diplomacy follows months of fierce conflicts for Israel, against Iran-backed groups
00:46like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen, all pushing Jerusalem and
00:53Damascus to reconsider their old battle lines.
00:57Leading Syria's unexpected pivot to its new president, Ahmed al-Chara, once a rebel commander
01:04with jihadist ties, now photographs shaking hands with US president and signing openness
01:10toward Israel.
01:11It's a dramatic shift.
01:13Gone is the rigid taste of rejectionism of Bashar al-Assad.
01:18In its place, cautious pragmatism and perhaps the first step towards a new future with Israel.
01:27The turning point?
01:29One word.
01:30Iran.
01:31Both Israel and Syria wants to keep Tehran and its proxies out of southern Syria.
01:36For Israel, its defense.
01:37For Damascus, its sovereignty.
01:39Al-Chara's government also sees opportunity.
01:44With Assad gone, he is seeking Western recognition and economic relief.
01:50And peace or even just quiet with Israel could help unlock both.
01:54U.S. President Donald Trump is backing the process.
01:58His envoy to Syria, Tom Barack Jr., is calling for a non-aggression pact and has floated Syria's
02:04potential inclusion in the Abraham Accords.
02:08For now, full normalization remains unlikely.
02:11But both sides are talking about a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement, a UN-monitored
02:18ceasefire deal that once kept the Golan Heights quiet.
02:23Israeli leaders, who once labeled Al-Chara as a terrorist, now describe him as someone we
02:28could maybe work with.
02:30And in a major gesture, the Trump administration left terrorist designation on his former group.
02:37And Syria's doubts linger.
02:39Is this genuine diplomacy or just tactical maneuvering?
02:42Al-Chara's past and Syria's lack of public support for peace with Israel made progress
02:48fragile at best.
02:50Still, in a region where enemies often stay enemies for generations, even cautious diplomacy
02:55matters.
02:56For now, Israel and Syria are talking and that alone could mark the start to a tectonic shift
03:03in the Middle East.
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