• Syrians want limited deal; normalisation remains distant.
• Israel leverages Sweida unrest to press for broader concessions.
• Israel pushes to expand demilitarised zone across Syria’s south.

Under US pressure, Syria is accelerating talks with Israel for a security pact that Damascus hopes will reverse Israel’s recent seizures of its land but that would fall far short of a full peace treaty, sources briefed on the talks said.

Washington is pushing for enough progress to be made by the time world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly at the end of this month to allow President Donald Trump to announce a breakthrough, four of the sources told Reuters.

Even a modest agreement would be a feat, the sources said, pointing to Israel’s tough stance during months of talks and Syria’s weakened position after sectarian bloodshed in its south inflamed calls for partition.

Reuters spoke to nine sources familiar with the discussions and with Israel’s operations in southern Syria, including Syrian military and political officials, two intelligence sources and an Israeli official.

They said Syria’s proposal aims to secure the withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory seized in recent months, to reinstate a demilitarised buffer zone agreed in a 1974 truce, and to halt Israeli air strikes and ground incursions into Syria.

The sources said talks had not addressed the status of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in a 1967 war. A Syrian source familiar with Damascus’s position said it would be left “for the future.”

The two countries have technically been at war since the creation of Israel in 1948, despite periodic armistices. Syria does not recognise the state of Israel.

After months of encroaching into the demilitarised zone, Israel abandoned the 1974 truce on December 8, the day a rebel offensive ousted Syria’s then-president Bashar al-Assad. It struck Syrian military assets and sent troops to within 20 kilometres (12 miles) of Damascus.

Israel has shown reluctance during the closed-door talks to relinquish those gains, the sources said.

“The US is pressuring Syria to accelerate a security deal — this is personal for Trump,” said an Israeli security source, who said the US leader wanted to present himself as the architect of a major success in Middle Eastern diplomacy.

But, the source said, “Israel is not offering much.”

The offices of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has been leading the negotiations, did not respond to Reuters questions.

A State Department official said Washington “continues to support any efforts that will bring lasting stability and peace between Israel, Syria and its neighbours.” The official did not answer questions on whether the US wanted to announce a breakthrough during the General Assembly.

Trust deficit at talks

Israel has voiced hostility to Syrian government, pointing to President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s former links with fighter groups, and has lobbied Washington to keep the country weak and decentralised.

But the US has encouraged talks — keen to expand the countries that signed peace deals with Israel under the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first administration.

Exploratory contacts began in Abu Dhabi following Sharaa’s April visit to the Emirates, which have ties with Israel. The two sides then met in the Azerbaijani capital Baku in July.

Days later, discussions were plunged into disarray when Syrian troops deployed to the southwestern Sweida region to quell sectarian violence between Bedouin and Druze militias. Israel said the deployment violated its enforcement of a “demilitarised zone” and bombed the defence ministry in Damascus. Sharaa accused it of seeking pretexts to interfere in Syria’s south.

A US-brokered ceasefire ended the violence and, a month later, bilateral negotiations resumed in Paris — marking the first time Syria publicly acknowledged holding direct talks with its longtime foe.

However, the atmosphere in the room was tense, with a lack of trust between the two sides, according to two Syrian sources and a Western diplomat.

Negotiators are following a phased process modelled on deals Israel reached with Egypt that paved the way for a landmark normalisation of relations in 1980. That involved the return to Egypt of the Sinai peninsula, seized by Israel in the 1967 war.

Six sources briefed on the talks said Israel would be unwilling even in the longterm to return the Golan, which Trump unilaterally recognised as Israeli in his first term.

Instead, Israel floated a proposal to the US special envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, that it could withdraw from southern Syria in return for Sharaa relinquishing the Golan, the Israeli official said.

“Our feelers via the Americans suggest this is a non-starter,” the official said. Netanyahu’s office, Dermer’s office and the US State Department did not respond to questions on the swap proposal.

A Syrian official told Reuters that Sharaa understood that “any compromise on the Golan would mean the end of his rule” and had told Barrack the security pact must be anchored in the 1974 lines.

While Sharaa is willing to accelerate talks with Israel to please Washington, he remains wary, according to a Western intelligence officer, the Israeli official and Syrian source.

He has told Barrack that conditions are not yet ripe for a broad peace agreement. “The basic elements of trust are simply not there,” said the Syrian official.

A senior US administration official told Reuters that Trump was clear when he met Sharaa in May in Riyadh that “he expected Syria to work towards peace and normalisation with Israel and its neighbors.”

“The Administration has actively supported this position since then,” the official said. “The President wants peace throughout the Middle East.”

Narrow path for Sharaa

Realities on the ground have limited the Syrian leader’s options.

On the one hand, Israel’s incursions and support for the Druze have hardened Syrian public opinion against any deal, a factor weighing on Sharaa, officials say.

On the other, Israel’s land grabs in Syria pose a threat to Damascus, making a de-escalatory pact all the more important for Sharaa.

A Syrian military officer based near the border with Israel, who asked not to be identified, said Syrian army patrols in the south avoid confronting Israeli troops, who regularly raid villages and go door-to-door collecting household data and searching for arms.

In response to Reuters questions, the Israeli military said its operations had discovered “numerous weapons”, thwarted smuggling attempts and apprehended “dozens of suspects involved in advancing terrorist activity”, without providing further details.

The Israeli military was operating in southern Syria to protect Israel and its citizens, the statement said. Israel has threatened air strikes on any significant Syrian military or intelligence presence near the border without its consent.

Israel uses its new post at Mount Hermon, which it seized after Assad’s fall, to surveil the region. Defence Minister Israel Katz said last month Israel would not cede the location.

Israel’s military has imposed buffer zones in some neighbouring countries following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, in which some 1,200 people were killed. Israel’s nearly two-year campaign against Hamas has killed nearly 65,000 people in Gaza, according to local authorities.

“As in northern Gaza and southern Lebanon, Israel is now enforcing a wider demilitarised zone in southern Syria,” Syrian security analyst Wael Alwan said.

Druze developments bolstered Israel

Israel’s position has been strengthened by developments in Sweida, where Syrian forces stand accused of execution-style killings of Druze civilians. Druze leaders are calling for independence and a humanitarian corridor from Golan to Sweida — a challenge to Sharaa’s vow to centralise control of Syrian territory.

Two senior Druze figures, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said that since the Sweida fighting, Israel was helping unify splintered Druze factions and had delivered military supplies including guns and ammunition to them.

The two Druze commanders and a Western intelligence source said that Israel was also paying salaries for many of the roughly 3,000 Druze militia fighters.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the munitions supplies nor the payments. The offices of Netanyahu and Dermer did not respond to Reuters questions on support for the Druze militia.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani dismissed the possibility of a humanitarian corridor at the Paris talks, saying it would infringe on Syria’s sovereignty, according to a Syrian official familiar with the discussions.

Both sides agreed that stability in Syria’s south was key to preventing a resurgence of covert agents linked to Iran, Lebanese armed group Hezbollah or Palestinian resistance groups — common enemies of Israel and Syria’s new leaders. Israel agreed to allow interior ministry forces to deploy checkpoints in Sweida.

“Both parties are probing areas of common ground,” said the Syrian official.

Sharaa is keen not to provoke his southern neighbour, aware of how much damage its military can inflict, one close aide said on condition of anonymity: “Avoiding confrontation is central to his plan to rebuild and govern.”

Erdem Ozan, a former Turkish diplomat and expert on Syria, said Sharaa could accelerate talks to secure economic aid and reconstruction support from investors, Gulf benefactors and Washington.

“Sharaa’s focus on economic delivery could push him toward pragmatic concessions, but he’ll need to balance this with maintaining legitimacy among his supporters,” Ozan said.

Concessions could include handing greater autonomy to regional groups, including the Kurds and Druze, Ozan said, as well as demilitarisation near Syria’s borders with Israeli and Jordan.

Utah prosecutors vowed on Tuesday to seek the death penalty for the accused assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and revealed new details of their case, including text messages in which he was alleged to have privately confessed to the fatal shooting.

“I had enough of his hatred,” Tyler Robinson, 22, told his roommate and romantic partner when asked why he had committed the murder, according to transcripts of messages attributed to the suspect in court documents filed by prosecutors.

He is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop that pierced Kirk’s neck last Wednesday on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, about 40 miles (65km) south of Salt Lake City.

The office of Utah County District Attorney Jeffrey Gray charged Robinson with seven criminal counts on Tuesday, including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice for disposing of evidence and witness tampering for asking his roommate to delete incriminating texts.

Some politicians, including US President Donald Trump, have called for capital punishment in the case.

At a press conference, Gray said he had made the decision to seek the death penalty “independently, based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”

Robinson made an initial court appearance on Tuesday afternoon via video feed from jail, unshaven and wearing a suicide prevention smock. He remained expressionless but appeared to listen attentively as the judge read the charges and informed him that he could face the death penalty.

The defendant spoke only once, when asked to state his name. Finding Robinson unable to afford legal counsel, Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf said he would appoint a defence attorney before the next court hearing, set for September 29.

In the meantime, he was ordered to remain held without bond in the Washington County Jail, where, according to a sheriff’s spokesperson, he has been placed under a “special watch protocol” that includes increased supervision.

Kirk’s killing, captured in graphic video clips that went viral online, sparked denunciations of political violence, opens new tab across the ideological spectrum but also unleashed a wave of partisan blame-casting and concerns that the murder might beget more bloodshed.

In court filings, prosecutors highlighted some of their evidence against Robinson, who was at large for more than 30 hours before eventually turning himself in.

Shortly after the shooting, prosecutors said, Robinson sent a text message telling his roommate to “drop what you’re doing, look under my keyboard.” The roommate, whom officials have also described as Robinson’s romantic partner and transitioning from male to female, then found a physical note from Robinson that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

The roommate then asked Robinson in a text reply, “you weren’t the one who did it right????” Robinson responded: “I am, I’m sorry,” according to a transcript of the alleged dialogue.

When the roommate asked why he had shot Kirk, Robinson wrote back: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” He also asserted he had planned the attack for more than a week, prosecutors said.

In later text messages, Robinson said he wished he had gone back and grabbed the rifle that he left in a bush immediately following the killing, noting it had belonged to his grandfather.

“I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpas rifle,” he wrote. “I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints.”

DNA found on the trigger of the alleged murder weapon was linked to Robinson, prosecutors said.

Texts to roommates

Robinson, a third-year trade college student, turned himself the next day, after his parents saw images of the gunman and confronted him, according to the filings. Robinson implied that he wanted to take his own life, but his parents persuaded him to meet them at their home, where Robinson indicated he was the shooter.

Robinson ultimately decided to surrender to police after speaking at his parents’ urging with a family friend who is a retired deputy sheriff, prosecutors said.

“I’m much more worried about you,” he wrote the roommate after revealing he would give himself up. He also urged the roommate to delete the messages and to refuse to speak with police or the media.

The roommate, who was not identified in court papers, is cooperating with authorities, officials have said.

Robinson’s mother told police that over the past year her son had grown more left-leaning and more “pro-gay and trans-rights oriented,” the charging document said.

The relationship with his roommate also led to “discussions” with relatives including his father, who holds “very different political views” from the suspect, according to the document.

Prosecutors added aggravating factors to the murder and firearm charges, alleging Robinson targeted Kirk based on political views and knew children would witness the killing. Under state law, only aggravated murder can carry the death penalty.

Kirk, 31, co-founder of the conservative student movement Turning Point USA and a key Trump ally, was speaking at an event attended by 3,000 people when he was gunned down.

Civil rights advocates have long criticised Kirk for rhetoric disparaging various marginalised groups, including Blacks, Muslims, immigrants, women and transgender people, and for embracing Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election in 2020.

Kirk’s supporters describe him as a staunch defender of conservative values and a champion of public debate who galvanised young voters through Turning Point, shaping the MAGA movement’s appeal to Gen Z voters.

Top administration officials have threatened to go after left-wing organisations in the wake of the assassination, which Trump blamed almost immediately on the “radical left.” Critics have expressed concern that Trump may use the killing as a pretext to crack down on his political opponents.

Roughly two out of three Americans believe that harsh rhetoric common in politics is encouraging violence, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, opens new tab conducted in the days following Kirk’s murder.

LONDON: US President Donald Trump arrived in Britain on Tuesday for an unprecedented second state visit, with the UK government rolling out a royal red carpet welcome to win over the mercurial leader.

“A lot of things here warm my heart,” the 79-year-old Republican told reporters after he arrived with First Lady Melania Trump. “It’s a very special place.”

King Charles III will host Trump at Windsor Castle for a lavish banquet and carriage ride on Wednesday, before Trump meets Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his country residence on Thursday.

In a sign of the pomp and pageantry to come, a guard of honour greeted the Trumps as they stepped off Air Force One at Stansted Airport near London.

Trump then expressed his admiration for the British monarch.

“He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and everyone respects him, and they love him,” Trump said as he arrived by helicopter at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence in London, where he will spend the night.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a very big day.”

Trump is the first US president to be invited for two state visits, after previously being hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during his last term in office in 2019 — as Britain tries to keep the so-called special relationship alive.

The British government has been unapologetic about its efforts to get on the right side of Trump, whose mother was Scottish and who owns a number of golf courses in the UK.

Heavy security

But the British public will be kept far away from Trump, with the visit taking place entirely behind closed doors and heavy security.

A large anti-Trump demonstration has been called in London on Wednesday, while protesters projected images of Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the towers of Windsor Castle late Tuesday.

The shadow of the Epstein scandal has hung over Trump for weeks after his administration declined to release files on the issue.

It has also embroiled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who sacked his ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson on the eve of the visit over the envoy’s emails to Epstein.

Starmer’s government is however counting on the sheer scale of the state visit to keep Trump onside, despite his unpredictability over everything from tariffs to Ukraine and Gaza.

In Windsor on Wednesday, Trump will get a ceremonial carriage ride and a flypast by both UK and US jets in what officials call the largest military show for a state visit in living memory.

In the evening King Charles will host Trump for a lavish state dinner where both men will give speeches.

Trump may also relish the royal part of the visit as a chance to escape a turbulent period at home, where the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has caused turmoil.

‘New heights’

Politics will take over again on Thursday when Starmer hosts Trump at his country residence Chequers for talks focusing on trade and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The visit has been timed to line up with announcements of several investments in Britain — the latest being a pledge by Microsoft to spend $30 billion over four years.

Starmer needs the visit to go well after a miserable few days in which some in his Labour party have openly questioned whether he can remain as leader over the Mandelson resignation.

Downing Street has said Trump’s visit would see the “unbreakable friendship” between the countries “reach new heights”.

The visit is “a huge moment for both” men, said Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank.

“For Trump, the state visit is an opportunity to revel in the pomp and ceremony he loves,” she told AFP.

“For Starmer, the visit is a chance to distract from domestic discontent and shift the limelight onto international issues where he has had greater success.”