Syria and Israel have held high-level, US-mediated talks in Jordan aimed at easing tensions after recent Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, reopening a security channel that had collapsed amid mutual distrust.

Reuters reported that the talks were disclosed by Syria’s state news agency SANA, which cited a diplomatic source at the Syrian Foreign Ministry. The meeting focused on practical mechanisms to halt Israeli strikes, arrests and targeted operations, and on reviving negotiations toward a security agreement that could later support a broader political accord.

The meeting follows an Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria. The circumstances of that attack remain contested. A US envoy told AP that Israel had not warned Washington beforehand; Israel’s defence minister disputed that account and said senior Syrian officials and relevant US authorities had been alerted.

The disagreement matters because the talks are not taking place between two governments that share a baseline of trust. Syria says Israeli strikes and incursions violate its sovereignty. Israel says its military actions are necessary to protect its security. The United States is trying to use its influence with Israel while maintaining a channel to the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

According to the Reuters report, Damascus raised a series of immediate demands. Syria wants Israel to withdraw to positions held before the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and wants the 1974 disengagement agreement fully restored. It also rejects arrangements that would restrict its right to rebuild its armed forces or choose its alliances, and it continues to assert that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.

Those demands show why a meeting should not be mistaken for a breakthrough. A ceasefire mechanism may be negotiable even when the parties cannot agree on sovereignty, military posture or the future of the Golan Heights. The practical question is whether the governments can separate immediate steps — such as preventing another strike or arrest — from the final-status disputes that have kept them apart for decades.

Turkey adds another layer. Reuters reported that the talks also addressed efforts to reduce tensions between Israel and Turkey and prevent their rivalry from spilling into Syrian territory. Syria has become the arena in which several security agendas overlap: Israeli concerns about armed groups and military infrastructure, Turkish concerns about influence and bases, and Damascus’s effort to restore state control after years of war.

The next test will be whether the parties keep meeting and publish a mechanism that can be checked. Until then, the confirmed development is a high-level, US-mediated meeting reported by SANA and Reuters, not a security agreement. The talks reopen a door; they do not yet show that either side is ready to walk through it.