New Book Reveals US Envoy's 'Secret Attempt to Reach Syrian-Israeli Peace'

Current tensions between Damascus and Tel Aviv show no sign of improving amid constant reports of the Israel Defence Forces launching strikes on Syrian targets under the pretext of countering the alleged Iranian military presence in the Arab republic.

A new book by US diplomat Frederic Hof has revealed "how close Israel and Syria were to a bilateral peace accord" between 2009 and 2011, the newspaper Haaretz reports.

At the time, Hof served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under US President Barack Obama.

Most of Hof's book titled "Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace" and seen by Haaretz focuses on the description of his "surprisingly successful" meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad and then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2011.

Damascus at the time the talks began was demanding Israel's commitment to completely withdraw from the Golan Heights. Tel Aviv refused to make such a promise before receiving concrete proof of Syria's intention to achieve a full-blown peace, and to meet Israel's security needs, Haaretz reported.

The main point of the US mediation was not the usual formula of "land for peace", but "land in return for strategic change". It meant that in exchange for a full pullout from the Golan Heights, Israel was supposed to receive not only peace with Syria but also Damascus severing ties with Iran and Hezbollah, the Jewish state's arch foes.

According to Haaretz, describing in detail the reactions of Assad and Netanyahu to the US plan, Hof, "with proper caution, […] does not claim that the effort was inevitably headed for success, and does not reject the possibility that one or both of the two parties could have jumped off the train before reaching the destination".

At the end of the day, US mediation efforts were "cut short due to the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in March 2011", the newspaper notes, adding Hof was "disappointed by the Obama administration's handling of Syria". The diplomat reportedly became an "outspoken" critic of Obama and his policy after resigning from the administration later that year.

Current relations between Damascus and Tel Aviv remain tense, with the Jewish state reportedly carrying out a number of airstrikes on the Arab Republic, which Tel Aviv says are aimed at countering the alleged Iranian military presence in Syria. Damascus condemns such attacks as violations of Syria's national sovereignty.

Iran, for its part, denies having a military presence in the Arab Republic apart from advisers sent in at the request of Damascus to help the Syrian government fight terrorist groups. Relations between Israel and Iran remain frozen, with Tehran denying the Jewish state's right to exist and constantly vowing to destroy it.