Egypt Daily News – The newspaper “Israel Hayom” revealed that two days ago, a limited secret meeting was held in the Israeli Council of Ministers devoted to discussing the next day in Syria, which ended with a proposal to hold an international conference to divide Syria into cantons.
The Israeli newspaper said that the outcome of the secret high-level meeting, which was chaired by Defense Minister Israel Katz, was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn will hold a special meeting in the coming days to consider the matter, especially with a focus on Türkiye’s involvement in Syria, which threatens Israel.
It reported that the discussion during the secret meeting touched on the changes in Syria, with a focus on the positions of the Commander-in-Chief of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, indicating that “the discussions during the meeting chaired by Katz focused on fear for the safety and security of the two minorities friendly to Israel, the Druze and the Kurds.”
It also confirmed that the current Minister of Energy and former Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, was the one who proposed holding the international conference on Syria, and focusing on ending the scenario of dividing it into cantons.
The goal, as the newspaper quoted Cohen, is to ensure the security of Israel’s northern borders and allow it to defend itself effectively against the threats posed by Syrian faction organizations that are not committed to the separation of forces agreement, according to him.
The Israeli newspaper also revealed that the call to divide Syria into provinces or cantons had previously been discussed by very senior Israeli political and security officials since the fall of the Assad regime, under the pretext of ensuring the security and rights of all ethnic groups in Syria, and this was not revealed until now.
On the other hand, “Israel Hayom” quoted statements from Israeli security sources saying that Tel Aviv has no intention of settling in Syria, but it also does not intend to leave the areas it seized, “until things stabilize in Syria.”
The Israeli sources believed that one of the ways that would lead us to stability in Syria might be through the conference that would reshape Syria and its borders in a way that would enable Israel to withdraw its forces without compromising its security.
