Tel Aviv eyes peace accords with Syria, Lebanon

AFP | Jerusalem

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Israel said yesterday it is “interested” in striking peace agreements with neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, a potentially historic shift in the region after decades of war and animosity.

With Syria under new leadership after the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement weakened, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told journalists his government wanted more normalisation agreements with Arab countries.

“Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalisation,” Saar said of the US-brokered deals that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

“We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours -- tothe circle of peace and normalisation while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests,” Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem alongsidehis Austrian counterpart BeateMeinl-Reisinger.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursdaythat Israel’s recent “victory” ina 12-day war against Iran “opensthe path to dramatically enlargethe peace accords”.