A high-level ministerial meeting between Syria and Israel is scheduled to take place on Thursday in Baku, Azerbaijan, to address rising security concerns in southern Syria, a diplomat told AFP, and according to The Times of Israel.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer are expected to attend the talks, which follow a similar meeting held in Paris last week. The Baku meeting will also come after Shaibani’s unprecedented visit to Moscow on the same day.
According to the diplomat, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, the meeting will focus on “the security situation, particularly in southern Syria,” an area that has seen escalating violence in recent months.
Tensions have surged in Syria’s southern Sweida province, a region with a significant Druze population. Deadly clashes broke out earlier this month between local Druze groups and Bedouin tribes, eventually drawing in Syrian government forces and prompting Israeli military involvement. Israel later stated that its intervention was aimed at protecting the Druze population. The fighting reportedly resulted in hundreds of casualties.
In the wake of the violence, Israel carried out targeted strikes on the Syrian presidential palace and army headquarters in Damascus. A ceasefire between the two sides was announced overnight on 18 July by the United States, a key ally of Israel that has also expressed support for Syria’s current authorities.
Russia, which was a principal backer of former President Bashar al-Assad before his ousting in December, has recently hosted Syrian officials, with Shaibani’s trip to Moscow on Thursday seen as a further shift in the country’s foreign engagements.
Israel and Syria have technically remained at war since 1948, and while direct diplomatic relations do not exist, discreet contacts have taken place in recent years. According to diplomatic sources, Shaibani and Dermer previously met in Baku on 12 July, before the latest wave of violence erupted.
Thursday’s meeting in Azerbaijan is part of a series of quiet but significant diplomatic efforts aimed at reducing regional tensions and seeking common ground on security matters amid shifting geopolitical alignments in the Middle East.
These talks highlight Azerbaijan's growing strategic location for hosting and facilitating discussions on conflicts in the Middle East.
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Maritime traffic in and out of Iran will be controlled by the U.S. military Washington said. Iran warns of harsh response to the blockade. A two-week ceasefire was announced on Tuesday last week but peace talks over the weekend in Pakistan failed to reach an agreement.
The Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that the U.S. hegemonic approach has been the main obstacle to reaching a fair agreement, his office announced on Monday.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed on Monday to upgrade bilateral relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, placing defence cooperation at its core.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Monday that China must assume a far more substantial leadership role on the global stage, urging Beijing to take the helm on critical issues ranging from climate change and security to defence and the fight against extreme inequality.
Hungarians vote in elections on Sunday that could see the end of hard right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s more than 15 year rule. Opinion polls show Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing 45-year-old Péter Magyar’s centre-right opposition Tisza party.
U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday in an effort to end their six-week war, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. military had begun the process of clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
At least 30 people were killed on Saturday in a stampede at Haiti’s Laferrière Citadel World Heritage Site, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise.
Israel has reprimanded Spain’s most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv after a giant effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up in a Spanish town.
Nine suspects were arrested on Saturday (11 April) in connection with a terror attack targeting a police post in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district.
Hungary’s veteran nationalist leader Viktor Orbán has lost power to the centre-right Tisza party in Sunday’s national election after 16 years in office, marking a major political shift that has drawn reactions across Europe and the United States.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed on Monday to upgrade bilateral relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, placing defence cooperation at its core.
Pope Leo XIV is set to make history this April, becoming the first pontiff ever to visit Algeria. The trip forms part of a wider African tour, taking him to Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon from 13–23 April, and marks his first major overseas trip of 2026.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared on Monday that China must assume a far more substantial leadership role on the global stage, urging Beijing to take the helm on critical issues ranging from climate change and security to defence and the fight against extreme inequality.
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