Israel on Wednesday confirmed statements made by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who said the day before that a third party has been involved in relaying messages between the two states.
According to Haaretz, Israel's Foreign Minsitry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel and Syria have been in contact through third parties for some time, but the mediators have been unable to get the two sides to resume peace talks.
Regev said that Turkey, European countries and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have all relayed messages to Damascus. According to him, Syria has not responded seriously to the overtures.
"Different parties have been used to send messages. This is not new. It has been going on for quite some time," Regev conveyed. "The problem is not the lack of good people offering their good offices. The problem appears to be with the policy goals of the regime in Damascus. While it is possible that they talk about peace, that's all it is - talk," Regev went on to say.
"They are in fact playing the Israeli card cynically in attempts to solve their diplomatic problems with the countries of Europe and North America without any real intentions to change their relationship with Israel," he said.
