US flag raised in Damascus, envoy says Syria-Israel peace is possible

The United States' newly-appointed Syria envoy said he believed peace between Syria and Israel was achievable as he made his first trip to Damascus on Thursday, praising the Islamist-led government and saying it was ready for dialogue.

Thomas Barrack raised the American flag over the ambassador's residence for the first time since the US embassy closed in 2012, underlining a rapid expansion of US ties with Damascus since President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced the lifting of sanctions and met Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

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

Barrack also said that Syria would no longer be deemed a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States, saying the issue was "gone with the Assad regime being finished" but that Congress had a six-month review period.

"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.

Interim President Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander, is rapidly reorienting a country that had turbulent ties with the West and close relations to Iran and Russia during more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.

Syria has long been a frontline state in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Israel occupying the Syrian Golan Heights since a war in 1967. Israel seized more Syrian territory in the border zone following Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing concerns about the jihadist roots of Syria's new rulers.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Israeli and Syrian officials were in direct contact, having held face-to-face meetings aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region.

Trump urged Sharaa to normalise relations with Israel when they met in Riyadh earlier this month.

Barrack, who is also US ambassador to Turkey, was named as Syria's US envoy on May 23.

He noted Syria had been under US sanctions since 1979. Some of the toughest were implemented in 2020 under the so-called Caesar act, which Barrack said must be repealed by Congress within a 180-day window.

"I promise you the one person who has less patience with these sanctions than all of you is President Trump," he said.

The US closed its embassy in Damascus in February 2012, nearly a year after protests against Assad devolved into a violent conflict that went on to ravage Syria for more than a decade.

Then-ambassador Robert Ford was pulled out of Syria shortly before the embassy closed. Subsequent US envoys for Syria operated from abroad and did not visit Damascus.

During Syria's 14-year war, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, millions were displaced both internally and outside the country and the West ratcheted up pressure against Assad by cutting ties and imposing tough sanctions, but he clung onto power with help from Iran and Russia.

Sharaa led al Qaeda's official wing in Syria for years until severing ties with the global jihadist network in 2016.