Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa reportedly held a covert meeting with senior Israeli intelligence officials in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, marking a dramatic departure from Syria's historic rejection and refusal to submit to "Israel".

According to a source cited by i24NEWS, the April 13 meeting in Abu Dhabi was mediated by the UAE and attended by top Israeli representatives from the Mossad, National Security Council, and IOF intelligence.

The meeting appears to have laid the foundation for a phased normalization process, beginning with military and intelligence coordination, followed by a possible Israeli withdrawal from limited areas in southern Syria, and culminating in normalization talks that may include the future of the occupied Golan Heights.

Alarmingly, the Syrian source stated that Damascus is "prepared to show flexibility" on the Golan front, a territory universally recognized as Syrian but unilaterally annexed by the Israeli regime in violation of international law.

"Peace will not be achieved without concessions from all parties to reach an acceptable formula," the source added, a phrase that rings hollow in the absence of any mention of occupied Palestine, besieged Gaza, or the continued colonization of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

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Moreover, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has made it clear that the Golan Heights will not be on the table. Speaking on June 30, he asserted that "the Golan Heights will remain part of the State of Israel," effectively preempting any Syrian hope of recovering its stolen, occupied territory. Despite this, Israeli officials continue to press for the inclusion of both Syria and Lebanon in the normalization accords, even as illegal occupation persists.

Sanctioned normalization

More disturbing still is the context within which these negotiations are unfolding. The new Syrian leadership, which took power following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, has been implicated in a string of massacres targeting communities perceived as "disloyal".

Numerous reports from local and exiled sources describe mass executions, disappearances, and indiscriminate bombardments in areas such as Sweida and Idlib. Yet, instead of international condemnation, Syria was rewarded: in May, US President Donald Trump lifted decades-old sanctions on Damascus, clearing the path for Western-backed reintegration under the pretext of "stabilization."

This normalization track is being shepherded by Trump-aligned figures such as Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Rev. Johnnie Moore, both instrumental in pushing the 2020 normalization agreements. In June, the two met with al-Sharaa in Damascus, after which Moore confidently declared that peace with "Israel" was "very possible," floating the idea of Trump facilitating a direct meeting between al-Sharaa and Netanyahu.

Al-Sharaa, for his part, appears to be actively courting such an arrangement. In recent statements, he emphasized an end to "tit-for-tat bombings," described Syria and "Israel" as having "common enemies," and promoted the 1974 disengagement agreement as a blueprint for future relations.

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It is worth noting that for decades, Damascus projected itself as a pillar of the Resistance Axis, opposing Israeli settler colonialism and imperialism. But today, amid genocide in Gaza, the silence from Syria's new rulers is deafening. There is no mention of the siege on Gaza, no condemnation of apartheid, no solidarity with the dispossessed. Instead, there is cooperation with a regime that continues to bomb Syria, kill its citizens, and occupy its land.