Syria approaches the United States and Israel in search of stability and progress
Syria wants to rebuild and climb out of the pit it has been in since a bloody civil war began in 2011 with protests against the former regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
The current interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who in the past had links to extremist jihadist groups such as the Al-Nusra Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria, took the step of assuming power in the Middle Eastern nation after 13 years of civil war and half a century of authoritarian rule by Hafez Al-Assad and his son Bashar Al-Assad, following the latter's fall.
Contacts with the United States and Israel
The new president is seeking strong support and has therefore recently referred to the United States and Israel as important allies in rebuilding the devastated nation he represents and in achieving progress with a certain future.
It should be remembered that, a few months ago, the United States offered a reward of 10 million dollars for anyone who could provide reliable information on the whereabouts of Ahmed Al-Sharaa, due to his jihadist activities, and now he has become a valid political interlocutor.
In fact, Ahmed Al-Sharaa recently made a historic visit to Washington to meet with Donald Trump, President of the United States, with a view to building a solid relationship between the two nations despite the differences that have existed over the years and thus cooperating politically and economically.
In fact, Ahmed Al-Sharaa gave an interview to The Washington Post in which he indicated that both sides are seeking ‘common interests between the United States and Syria’. ‘We discovered that we have many common interests on which we can build, such as security and economic interests,’ he explained.
Among the clear objectives of cooperation between the two nations is to promote regional stability in the Middle East and to encourage reconstruction and economic progress in Syria, devastated after thirteen years of civil war.
‘The stability of Syria will affect the entire region, just as the instability of Syria will affect the region,’ said Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who also indicated that ‘stability is linked to the economy, and the economy, or economic development, is linked to the lifting of sanctions.’ 'This debate has been going on for months and I think we have achieved good results. But we are still waiting for the final decision,' Al-Sharaa said in an interview with The Washington Post.
This comes after the meeting between Trump and Al-Sharaa at the White House, where there was good rapport and which came after the Syrian president was removed from the US list of most wanted terrorists.
Al-Sharaa, who led, along with other factions, a military operation that overthrew Bashar Al-Assad on 8 December, was the first Syrian president to visit the White House since independence in 1946.
The Syrian interim president first met Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia during a regional tour of the Middle East by the US president in May, and a bond was formed that led to the recent meeting at the White House.
Upon his arrival in Washington, Al-Sharaa met with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, to discuss the issue of aid to Syria after the civil war. This was followed by a meeting with Donald Trump, who praised Al-Sharaa as a ‘strong leader’ and expressed his confidence in him. ‘We will do everything we can to make Syria successful,’ Trump said.
With regard to Israel, a country with which Syria was at war for years until 1974, when an agreement was reached between the two nations that lasted until the fall of Bashar Al-Assad's regime, there were differences because, after the end of Al-Assad's government and the advent of Al-Sharaa's new administration, the existing agreement was cancelled and Israel began a campaign of territorial occupation due to its expansionist ambitions, according to the Syrian president, and launched attacks, to which Syria did not respond because, according to Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the aim is to ‘rebuild Syria’ and not to engage in further confrontation.
Ahmed Al-Sharaa did acknowledge Israeli concerns about the presence of pro-Iranian militias in the area, given the major confrontation between the Israeli state and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is also a major rival of the United States in the region, generating instability in the area. He was quick to point out that his interim government has expelled these pro-Iranian forces from Syria, something that brings the Syrian administration closer to Israel in terms of cooperating to pacify the area. In fact, Ahmed Al-Sharaa has acknowledged ‘direct negotiations with Israel’ with significant progress, although Israel's withdrawal from Syria continues to be requested: ‘We are in direct negotiations with Israel and have made significant progress towards an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel must withdraw to its existing borders by 8 December 2024.’
Al-Sharaa also stated that the United States supports the Syrian government in these negotiations and that there are many international actors who back the Syrian point of view on this issue. ‘We have found that President Trump also supports our point of view and will do everything possible to reach a solution to this problem as soon as possible,’ Al-Sharaa said.
Working for regional stability
Perhaps this triangle formed by these parties can generate the necessary cooperation linked to the famous Abraham Accords, signed in September 2020, whereby various Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established diplomatic ties with Israel under the auspices of Donald Trump's first US administration, with a view to pacifying the Middle East and promoting regional economic and social development by confronting belligerent elements such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other Arab nations joined this trend, such as Morocco and Sudan, and recent contacts may indicate that Syria is also entering this spiral of regional understanding.
Since coming to power, the Syrian president has sought to present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers, far removed from his jihadist profile of the past.
Now, the goal is clear: to rebuild the nation and ensure a favourable economic future, which will benefit regional stability, as Syria has been a real powder keg in recent decades due to the clashes that have taken place there in the context of the civil war that pitted Bashar Al-Assad's regime against its various opponents, from extremist jihadist groups to other factions such as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which in the past fought side by side with the United States to confront jihadist terrorism on Syrian territory, but were abandoned to their fate after the departure of the American giant from the area and the forceful entry of Vladimir Putin's Russia, a great ally of Bashar Al-Assad at the time, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey, which sought to harass the Kurds integrated into the Syrian Democratic Forces, as the Turkish regime considers Kurdish groups to be terrorist groups and persecuted them after they settled in the north of Syria, also in the context of the Syrian civil war.
All this instability, which has dragged on for years, has significantly damaged Syria and allowed Bashar Al-Assad's government to exercise strong repression against these opposition groups. This was denounced by much of the international community.
Therefore, Syria is seeking a new path of stability and progress under the leadership of Ahmed Al-Sharaa.