An unprecedented meeting took place Thursday in Istanbul between an Israeli lawmaker and the leader of a Syrian rebel outfit.

MK Yakov Margi (Shas) met with Mohammed Adnan, head of the Association of Rebels in Syria, through the mediation of Mendi Safadi, the bureau chief of former Likud party minister Ayoob Kara. The two even gave an interview to Turkish television.

During the meeting Margi expressed his regret that innocents are being harmed in Syria’s civil war by President Bashar Assad, whom he called a tyrant. Margi emphasized that the Israeli people are interested in peace with Syria.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

“I hope the Syrian people will throw down the gauntlet and choose its representatives as in any democratic country, and [then] they’ll find us extending our two hands for peace and living side by side,” Margi said.

Adnan replied, saying that the Syrian people are waking from the dream of lies of the Assad family, and that the facts prove the Israeli people are no longer the enemy, but “rather a partner in our struggle against the common enemy — Assad, Iran, and Hezbollah.”

Safadi, who got himself into hot water in 2012 when he “presented himself as an official envoy of the State of Israel working on cooperation with the Syrian opposition” without official approval, said that after almost three years of bloodshed in Syria, the time had come for the world to open its eyes and unite in order to end the slaughter.

He added that there was a series of meetings in the works to strengthen the ties between Israel and the Syrian people.