US media: Officials from Damascus and Tel Aviv meet to discuss security understandings related to southern Syria.

The United States plans to organize a meeting between senior officials from Damascus and Tel Aviv next Thursday in an attempt to avoid the outbreak of new crises, according to a report published by the American website Axios.

US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack will lead the meeting, which will focus on discussing security understandings related to southern Syria. The meeting's location remains unknown.

The website indicated that the fundamental issues between the two countries will only be resolved through "comprehensive agreements."

In this context, US officials reported that President Donald Trump was surprised by the Israeli occupation's bombing of government sites in Syria on July 16.

A US official also confirmed Trump's discomfort with seeing bombs falling on a country seeking to rebuild itself, after the US had previously announced its support for reconstruction efforts in Syria.

This meeting comes at a sensitive time, as the Druze-majority province of Sweida has witnessed a military escalation since July 13, marked by violent clashes between local factions loyal to the Druze spiritual leader, Hikmat al-Hajri, and Syrian security forces.

Reuters quoted officials as saying that the Syrian government misinterpreted Israel's position after its forces deployed in southern Syria, believing it was done with the tacit permission of the United States and Israel.

Tel Aviv responded with heavy shelling targeting sites in the region, following accusations of killing dozens in Sweida.