Scoop: Israel and Jordan held secret talks on Syria

• Israeli forces are striking military sites across Syria and seized an area in the Golan Heights on the Syrian side of the border between the two countries. The Syrian mission to the United Nations says Israel's capture of the territory is a violation of Syria's sovereignty.
• Israel and Jordan, which also borders Syria, say they want to work together on their common security concerns about the situation in the country.
• Jordan is also a key mediator between Israel and the Syrian rebel groups, including the Sunni Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that led the revolution that toppled the Assad regime, an Israeli official said.

Behind the scenes: The director of the Israeli Shin Bet security agency and senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers met on Friday with the director of the Jordanian general intelligence service, Ahmad Husni, and senior Jordanian military commanders, the Israeli officials said.

• Two Israeli officials said they discussed the situation in Syria and both Israel's and Jordan's engagement with the rebel groups that are now forming a transitional government.
• The officials said they also discussed the growing threat of weapons smuggling by Iran through Jordan to armed groups in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which could dramatically escalate violence in the Palestinian territory.
• The IDF, Shin Bet and Jordanian embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment.

Driving the news: Over the past 10 days, the Israeli military has begun occupying Syrian territory in a border zone established decades ago at the end of the Yom Kippur War. Israeli forces are also occupying several other strategic locations, including the Syrian military outpost on Mount Hermon, which is the highest point in the region.

• The Israeli military said it has conducted nearly 500 air strikes on Syrian military targets in Syria and destroyed most of the Syrian Air Force, Navy, air defense, missiles and rockets.
• The IDF also conducted strikes on facilities that were used in the past as part of the Syrian chemical weapons program.
• The IDF said the strikes were intended to prevent the weapons from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in their meeting on Thursday that the IDF will "temporarily" maintain control of the border area in Syria "until there is an effective force that will enforce the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement."

• The agreement between Israel and Syria established "a zone of separation" and called on both sides to disengage their forces.
• Senior Israeli officials said the IDF presence in the buffer zone would likely continue for several months and maybe longer.

The other side: The Syrian mission to the United Nations sent a letter to members of the UN security council protesting the Israeli actions. The letter was sent on Dec. 9 but was made public four days later.

• "At a time when the Syrian Arab Republic is witnessing a new phase in its history in which its people aspire to a state of freedom, equality, social justice, the rule of law, peace and stability, the Israeli occupation army has escalated its ongoing aggression on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic," the Syrian ambassador to the UN wrote.
• He stressed the occupation of the buffer zone and the air strikes are a violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and a violation of Syrian sovereignty.
• "Syria renews its call on the United Nations and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities and take firm measures to compel Israel to immediately cease its ongoing attacks on Syrian territory, ensure that they are not repeated, and withdraw immediately according to the areas agreed upon in the Disengagement Agreement," the letter read.

HTS leader Ahmad al-Shara commented on Saturday for the first time about Israel's actions and called them "an unjustified escalation."

• He said Israel doesn't have any reason to cross the disengagement line, especially because Iran is no longer present in Syria is over and without its ally Assad will no longer be able to use Syria as a launching ground for attacks.
• "After years of war we can't afford getting into new conflicts. The top priority is reconstruction and stability and not getting dragged into conflicts that will bring more destruction," he said.
• He called on the international community to intervene and press Israel to respect Syrian sovereignty.