The United States brought Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani into direct talks with an Israeli delegation in Paris on Tuesday as part of a diplomatic push for Damascus and Jerusalem to normalize relations, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

According to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, the two sides discussed reducing recent tensions, which soared after Israel militarily last month intervened on behalf of the Druze community in southern Syria.

Restoring the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a U.N.-monitored buffer zone separating the two countries, was also discussed.