Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani stands next to US envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack as he raises the American flag at US ambassador’s residency in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack called for a non-aggression pact between long-time foes Syria and Israel during a high-profile visit to Damascus on Thursday, marking a significant diplomatic change in the Middle East.

Barack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkey, said he believes a peace agreement between Israel and Syria could be possible, praising the nascent Islamist government in Damascus for indicating openness to normalization with the Jewish state.

“Syria and Israel is a solvable problem. But it starts with a dialogue,” Barrack told journalists in Damascus. “I’d say we need to start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders.”

Following his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the presidential palace, Barrack suggested the agreement as a first step toward repairing relations between Jerusalem and Damascus, according to AFP. Barrack also hoisted the American flag over the US ambassador’s residence for the first time since the embassy closed in 2012, highlighting the swift growth of US relations with Syria.

Israeli and Syrian officials have been in direct contact and held a series of meetings in recent weeks aimed at calming tensions and avoiding conflict along their border, according to reporting by Reuters.

Sharaa became Syria’s president after leading the rebel campaign that ousted long-time Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, whose Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war, with an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate. Though previously designated as a terrorist organization by the US, HTS has since rebranded itself as a national force concerned with Syria’s wellbeing.

Following Assad’s fall, Israel conducted military strikes against much of Syria’s weapons arsenals and deployed ground troops to the buffer zone along their border to prevent its northern neighbor from becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Israeli communities.

The Israeli government has also pledged to defend the Druze community, an Arab minority sect whose religion is originally derived from Islam, in Syria with military force if they come under threat.

Despite suspicions of Syria’s new Islamist-led government, US foreign policy toward Damascus has shifted dramatically with the change in regime.

Barrack’s visit came after about two weeks after US President Donald Trump met with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, urged him to normalize relations with Israel, and announced in a surprising turn that the US would lift all sanctions on the Syrian government.

According to Barrack, the Trump administration will remove Syria from the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that has heavily restricted foreign aid and investment in the country, saying the issue was “gone with the Assad regime being finished.”

Barrack told Reuters that Washington wants to give Syria’s new leadership “a fair opportunity to govern without the burden of external pressure,” suggesting a major recalibration of US policy in the Middle East.

“America’s intent and the president’s vision is that we have to give this young government a chance by not interfering, not demanding, by not giving conditions, by not imposing our culture on your culture,” Barrack said on Thursday.