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Chronology of Israeli-Syrian relations

Wed May 21, 2008 6:34am EDT

(Reuters) - Israel said on Wednesday it was conducting indirect peace talks with Syria.

The two countries are formally at war, although a cease fire has held along the border since 1974. The last round of peace talks fell apart in 2000.

Here is a timeline on Israel-Syrian relations:

November 1947 - Syria opposes U.N. partition plan for Jewish and Arab states side by side.

May 1948 - When British mandate ends, Jews proclaim state of Israel. Syria and other Arab armies invade.

July 1949 - Israel and Syria sign armistice agreement but on-and-off hostilities continue.

June 1967 - Israel launches attack on Syria during the Six-Day War, capturing the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau between Israel and Syria.

October 1973 - Syria attacks Israel in the Middle East War and tries to regain the Golan Heights, but assault is thwarted.

1974 - After postwar clashes on the Golan Heights, Syria and Israel sign a disengagement of forces agreement.

1981 - Israel annexes the Golan Heights, a move not recognized internationally.

December 1999 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa meet for the highest-level talks between the two countries.

January 2000 - Israeli-Syrian talks on the return of most of the Golan Heights to Syria collapse over the fate of a few hundred square meters of land by the Sea of Galilee.

June 2007 - Israel says it is willing to trade land for peace with Syria if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cuts ties with Iran and hostile guerrilla groups.

Oct 2007 - Israel confirms that its air force carried out a strike inside Syrian territory on Sept 6. Washington alleged the attack was on a nuclear reactor Syria was building with North Korean help. Assad said the facility was not nuclear.

May 2008 - Israel announces it is conducting indirect peace talks with Syria through Turkish mediation.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Richard Balmforth)



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