U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held his first-ever meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Hassan al-Shaibani in Turkey on Thursday, where he welcomed what he described as the Syrian government’s “calls for peace with Israel,” according to a State Department readout.

Rubio’s remarks appeared to reference comments made by a senior Syrian official during an interview with Israel’s Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday, in which Damascus was said to be open to peace with all regional actors “without exceptions.”

During the meeting, Rubio reaffirmed Washington’s support for easing sanctions on Syria as part of broader efforts to stabilize the war-torn country. He also welcomed what the U.S. described as “ongoing efforts to reduce Iran’s footprint in Syria,” along with commitments to determine the fate of American citizens who were either killed or remain missing inside Syria, and to ensure the complete removal of chemical weapons from Syrian stockpiles.

In a pointed message, Rubio stressed “the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religion,” the readout added.

The U.S.-Syrian meeting comes as Israel is reportedly engaged in both direct and indirect negotiations with Syrian officials, according to a report aired Thursday night by Israel’s Channel 12. These talks follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent overture to Syria’s newly appointed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, inviting him to pursue normalization with Israel.

According to the report, two distinct negotiation tracks are currently underway. One round of talks took place in recent days in Azerbaijan and reportedly included the participation of Maj. Gen. Oded Basyuk, head of the Israeli Army's Operations Directorate, alongside representatives of the Syrian government and Turkish officials.

A separate negotiation effort, reportedly mediated by the United Arab Emirates, is exploring the possibility of Syria joining the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords—a normalization framework between Israel and several Arab states.

During a landmark meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday—the first high-level contact between the two nations in a quarter-century—Trump publicly urged his Syrian counterpart to embrace the Accords.

“I told Al-Sharaa, I hope you’re going to join [the Abraham Accords] once you’re straightened out, and he said yes,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One following the talks. “But they have a lot of work to do.”