Israel-Syria peace push mulls US troops by Golan, ‘reformulating’ armistice agreement

TEL AVIV — The recent Israeli-Syrian talks have included discussion of Israeli troop withdrawals from Syria, their replacement by US and Syrian troops and the upgrading of the countries’ border agreements, according to Israeli and foreign officials speaking to Al-Monitor. 

The discussions do not, however, include the occupied Golan Heights, the sources said. One option under discussion is reformulating the armistice agreements signed by the two countries after the 1973 war with a quasi-normalization deal and Israel pulling its troops out of Syria. 

In such an agreement, the Israeli presence on Mount Hermon could be replaced by US troops, while Syrian government forces would be deployed in the demilitarized buffer zone to prevent hostile factions from entrenching themselves there.