CAIRO (Reuters) – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday the country has had indirect talks with Israel to bring down tensions as Israeli strikes continued to target Syria.

Reuters reported the United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, as Syria’s new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbour.

Sharaa said the negotiations with Israel were being conducted through mediators, without naming them.

“There are indirect talks with Israel through mediators to calm and attempt to absorb the situation so that it does not reach a level that both sides lose control over,” he said, reiterating blame on Israel over what he described as its “random interventions” in Syria.

He also said Damascus was talking to states that communicate with Israel to “pressure them to stop intervening in Syrian affairs and bomb some of its infrastructure.”

Israel has continued its strikes in Syria in recent weeks, including one just 500 metres from the presidential palace in Damascus.

Israel said the strikes were in response to threats against Syria’s Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with adherents in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Syria’s new leadership repeatedly condemned such strikes.

Israel has struck in Syria for years in a shadow campaign aimed at weakening Iran and its allies, including Lebanese Hezbollah.

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(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Yomna Ehab, writing by Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)