Israel is reassessing its hard-line policy toward Syria, seeking to mend ties with US envoy Tom Barrack and exploring a security deal with Damascus, Al-Monitor reported on Tuesday.

Mossad chief Roman Gofman was put in charge of efforts to ease tensions with Turkey and Syria after Israel bombed Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase on August 18, the report said.

Israel claimed the base was being prepared to host Turkish forces, but Ankara and Damascus denied plans for a Turkish base or troop deployment there.

Turkish officers had visited the site as part of a training activity with Syria, but no Turkish delegation was present before or during the attack, Turkey’s defense ministry said.

Turkey has backed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa since his rebel coalition overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and has helped the new government train and rebuild its armed forces.

Gofman met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Jordan on Sunday during US-mediated talks, Syrian state media reported.

The talks covered steps to halt Israeli strikes, arrests and targeted operations in Syria and to restart work on a security agreement.

The two sides also discussed ways to keep tensions between Turkey and Israel from spilling into Syrian territory.

Damascus wants Israel to return to positions held before Assad’s fall and restore the 1974 agreement that set up a United Nations-monitored buffer zone.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move recognized by the United States but rejected by most of the world.

An unnamed Israeli security official told Al-Monitor that an interim deal backed by US and international guarantees could reduce troop deployments and limit heavy weapons between Damascus and the Israeli border.

Israel’s public stance remains unchanged, with Defense Minister Israel Katz insisting on Tuesday that Israeli forces would remain on Mount Hermon and in the buffer zone while Israel faced what he called jihadist threats.

Al-Monitor linked the shift to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of gaining US President Donald Trump’s support before Israel’s October 27 election, although an associate of Netanyahu told the outlet that pressure from right-wing voters left little room for concessions.