Syrias

Syria’s security forces have begun deploying in the restive southern province of Suwayda, a Ministry of Interior spokesperson has said, where heavy fighting between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces has left hundreds dead, compounded by Israeli military intervention.

The deployment on Saturday came hours after the United States announced that Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, an as yet uncertain truce amidst overnight fighting.

Syria’s government announced the ceasefire early on Saturday, saying in a statement it is being enacted “to spare Syrian blood, preserve the unity of Syrian territory, the safety of its people”.

The country’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a televised address, stated that he “received international calls to intervene in what is happening in Suwayda and restore security to the country”.

Israeli intervention has “reignited tensions” in the city, with fighting there “a dangerous turning point”, he said, also thanking the US for its support.

Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba had said in a statement on Telegram that “internal security forces have begun deploying in Suwayda province … with the aim of protecting civilians and putting an end to the chaos.”

Ethnically charged clashes between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces have reportedly left hundreds dead in recent days.

On Wednesday, Israel launched heavy air attacks on Syria’s Ministry of Defence in the heart of Damascus, and also hit Syrian government forces in the Suwayda region, claiming it had done so to protect the Druze, who it calls its “brothers”.

Communities in Suwayda are ‘noble people’

“Al-Sharaa said that national unity was a priority for his government and that part of the role of the government was to be a neutral referee between all parties,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from the capital Damascus.

“He praised the people of Suwayda, other than the few elements that wanted to sow trouble, saying that both Druze and Arab communities in the city were noble people.”

It was unclear whether Syrian troops reached Suwayda city as of Saturday morning or were still on the city’s outskirts, Vall said.

Bedouin tribal fighters had been waiting to hear more from the government about the ceasefire, while Druze leaders have varying attitudes on it – some welcoming it, and others pledging to continue fighting, he added.

Fighting has “been going on throughout the night”, but the deployment of Syria’s internal security forces was “welcome news” to many in the city, Vall said.

On Friday, an Israeli official, who declined to be named, told reporters that in light of the “ongoing instability in southwest Syria”, Israel had agreed to allow the “limited entry of the [Syrian] internal security forces into Suwayda district for the next 48 hours”.

According to Syria’s Health Ministry, the death toll from fighting in the Druze-majority city is now at least 260. An estimated 80,000 people have fled the area, according to the International Organization for Migration.

“A lot of extrajudicial killings [are] being reported,” said Vall. “People are suffering, even those who have been killed or forced to flee, they don’t have electricity, they don’t have water, because most of those services have been badly affected by the fighting.”

‘Zero-sum formula of territorial expansion and concurrent wars’

The Reuters news agency on Saturday reported that Syria’s government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country’s south this week, encouraged by US messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralised state.

Damascus believed it had a green light from both the US and Israel to dispatch its forces south to Suwayda, despite months of Israeli warnings not to do so, Reuters reported, quoting several sources, including Syrian political and military officials, two diplomats, and regional security sources.

That understanding was based on public and private comments from US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, as well as security talks with Israel, the sources said.

Analysts say Israel’s attacks have “less to do with the minority Druze community and more with a strategic Israeli objective to create a new reality,” said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh.

“It’s part of Israel trying to show that it is the hegemonic power in the Middle East.”

She added: “It’s a zero-sum formula of territorial expansion and concurrent wars. Endless war on Gaza, relentless attacks on Lebanon, strikes on Yemen, threats of resumed hostilities with Iran and in Syria, territorial expansion, [and] direct military intervention.

“This contradicts the Trump administration’s declared policy of seeking to expand normalisation deals with Israel in the region, which the new government in Syria had welcomed and entertained before this crisis,” said Odeh.

US ambassador says truce was ‘supported’ by the US and ’embraced’ by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours.

Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, has announced, drawing an uneasy truce between the neighbours after days of air strikes and sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s southwestern Suwayda region.

Barrack said in a post on X early on Saturday that the ceasefire between Syria and Israel was “supported” by Washington and “embraced” by Turkiye, Jordan and Syria’s neighbours.

In his post announcing the ceasefire, Barrack said the US called “upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors “.

There has been no comment yet from Syrian or Israeli officials.

An Israeli official, who declined to be named, told reporters on Friday that in light of the “ongoing instability in southwest Syria”, Israel had agreed to allow the “limited entry of the [Syrian] internal security forces into Suwayda district for the next 48 hours”.

On Wednesday, Israel launched heavy air strikes targeting Syria’s Ministry of Defence in the heart of Damascus, and also hit Syrian government forces in the country’s Suwayda region.

Israel claims it has launched attacks to protect Syria’s Druze minority in Suwayda, where ethnically charged clashes between Druze and Bedouin armed groups and government forces have reportedly left hundreds dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the Druze, who number about one million in Syria – mostly concentrated in Suwayda – and 150,000 in Israel, as “brothers”.

A ceasefire agreement mediated by the US, Turkiye and Arab countries was reached between Druze leaders and the Syrian government on Wednesday. Israel, however, launched air strikes on Syria the same day, killing at least three people and wounding 34 others.

Following the Israeli attacks, Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised speech early on Thursday that protecting the country’s Druze citizens and their rights was a priority, and though Syria would prefer to avoid a conflict with Israel, it was not afraid of war.

Al-Sharaa added that Syria would overcome attempts by Israel to tear the country apart through its aggression.

Heavy fighting again flared up between the Druze and Bedouin tribes in Suwayda on Friday, and Damascus has redeployed a dedicated force to restore calm in the Druze-majority governorate.

What started as a local conflict in southern Syria between local Druze and Bedouin communities over the weekend escalated on Wednesday into Israel bombing Syria’s Ministry of Defence and other targets in the capital Damascus.

At least three people were killed in the Damascus attacks, the Syrian Ministry of Health said. Other Israeli air attacks on Wednesday hit the southwestern provinces of Suwayda and Deraa.

Suwayda – where the majority of the population are members of the Druze religious group – had been the epicentre of the violence in recent days. Israel had already struck Syrian government forces there earlier this week.

Israeli officials claim their attacks on Syria aim to protect the Druze community in Suwayda, where scores of people have been killed in clashes involving local armed groups, as well as government forces.

However, local activists and analysts say Israel is fueling internal strife in Suwayda by continuing to bomb Syria – as it has done repeatedly since former President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December. And Israel has continued to attack Syrian government forces, despite ceasefire agreements between some Druze leaders and the Syrian authorities.

“Not only is Israel now painting the entire [Druze] community as pro-Israel, but they are painting them as supporting Israel’s bombardment of Damascus,” said Dareen Khalifa, an expert on Syria and a senior adviser with International Crisis Group.

Exploiting strife

The recent violence in Suwayda began after Bedouin armed groups kidnapped a Druze trader on the road to Damascus on July 11, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based monitor.

The abduction quickly turned into more widespread violence between the two communities – which have a longstanding rivalry due to land disputes – eventually dragging in Syrian government forces.

Syria’s new government has been attempting to impose its authority after a 14-year civil war and the end of half a century of al-Assad family rule. However, it has found it difficult to do so in Suwayda, partly because of Israel’s repeated threats against the presence of any government forces in the province, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Suwayda’s Druze initially welcomed the deployment of government forces following the weekend’s violence, but clashes soon began between some Druze fighters and those forces, with reports of the latter carrying out human rights abuses, according to civilians, local monitors and analysts.

The actions committed by members of the security forces – acknowledged as “unlawful criminal acts” by the Syrian presidency – have given Israel a pretext to bombard Syria in an attempt to keep the country weak and divided, as well as to pander to its own Druze citizens who serve in the Israeli army, experts say.

“From the Israeli perspective – and how they view Syria and how Syria should be – they prefer a weak central government and for the country to be governed and divided into sectarian self-governing enclaves,” said Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, an expert on Syria who has extensively researched local dynamics in Suwayda.

Al-Tamimi added that reactions in Suwayda have been mixed regarding Israel’s conduct, which speaks to the lack of trust many in the province have in the new government in Damascus – which is led by members of Syria’s Sunni majority, many of whom, including President Ahmed al-Sharaa, were members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Civilians in Suwayda said that part of the distrust stems from the government’s failure to hold fighters accountable for either allowing or partaking in the killing of hundreds of Alawites on Syria’s coast in March.

Alawites belong to an offshoot of Shia Islam, a sect that al-Assad and his family hailed from. The government has launched an investigation into the fighting, in which more than 200 Syrian government security personnel were also killed after attacks by pro-Assad forces, with the findings expected in October.

Abuses and fear

Government forces have been accused of carrying out human rights abuses in Suwayda, including carrying out “field executions,” according to SOHR and other local monitors.

“I personally wanted the government forces to restore order, but not like this,” said Fareed*, a young man from the Druze community.

The local outlet Suwayda24 reported that fighters believed to be linked to the government executed nine unarmed civilians after raiding a family compound on July 15.

Al Jazeera’s verification unit, Sanad, confirmed the reports.

Written questions were sent to Uday al-Abdullah, an official at Syria’s Ministry of Defence, asking him to respond to accusations that government forces carried out execution-style killings.

He did not respond before publication.

However, on Wednesday, the Syrian Health Ministry said that dozens of bodies had been found in Suwayda’s National Hospital, including security forces and civilians.

Ceasefires have been repeatedly agreed between Druze factions and the Syrian government. The most recent, on Wednesday, included an agreement that Suwayda be fully integrated into the Syrian state, according to Youssef Jarbou, a Druze leader.

However, as in the case of a ceasefire agreed on Tuesday, Israel has continued to attack.

What’s more, several Druze religious and armed factions retreated from the Tuesday ceasefire primarily because government forces continued to carry out violations in Suwayda, according to al-Tamimi.

During the civil war, clerics and armed Druze factions were able to negotiate de facto autonomy while repelling attacks by groups such as ISIL (ISIS).

After al-Assad fell in December 2024, one notable Druze religious leader, Hikmat al-Hijri, demanded that the new authorities in Damascus change the constitution to ensure greater regional autonomy for Suwayda and secularisation.

His position had significant backing, but not the majority, said al-Tamimi.

“His specific position – that the government needed to rewrite the constitution – was not the majority position in Suwayda,” he told Al Jazeera, saying there were pragmatists willing to engage with the government to safeguard a degree of autonomy and integrate with the new authorities.

“[But after these government violations], al-Hijir’s positions will likely enjoy more sympathy and support,” al-Tamimi warned.

Calls for intervention

As fighting continues in al-Suwayda, al-Hijri has controversially called on the international community to protect the Druze in Syria.

Critics fear that his call is a veiled request for Israeli intervention, a position that many people in Suwayda disagree with.

Samya,* a local activist who is living in a village several kilometres away from where the clashes are unfolding, said Israel’s attacks make her “uncomfortable” and that she doesn’t support intervention.

At the same time, she said she is increasingly worried that government forces will raid homes, endangering civilians.

“We don’t know what to expect,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We don’t know who may come to our house and who that person will be, and what he might ask us once he enters. We don’t know how that person or soldier might treat us, you know? So, there is fear. Honestly, we are all really terrified,” she added.

Al-Tamimi warned that Israel’s discourse of “protecting” the Druze of Syria could exacerbate internal strife, leading to collective punishment.

“[What Israel is doing] is inflaming sectarian tension, because it gives fuel to the suggestions that Druze are secretly working with Israel to divide the country,” he said.

Some names have been changed to protect sources from reprisal

Israel has carried out powerful air strikes near Syria’s presidential palace and on the military headquarters in the heart of Damascus, a major escalation in its bombardment of the neighbouring country.

At least three people were killed and 34 others were wounded in the attacks on Damascus on Wednesday, Syrian state media reported, citing the Ministry of Health.

While targeting Damascus, the Israeli military continued to pound areas in southern Syria, including Suwayda, where a new ceasefire deal has been struck after four days of clashes between Druze armed groups, Bedouin tribes and government forces, which left hundreds dead.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Israeli attacks on Damascus and Suwayda were “part of a systematic Israeli policy to ignite tension and chaos and undermine security in Syria”, calling on the international community to take “urgent action” against Israeli aggression.

Israel said its bombing campaign is aimed at protecting the Druze minority, and it has called on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from the city of Suwayda, where much of the violence has taken place.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X that the Israeli military would “continue to operate vigorously in Suwayda to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely”.

Later on Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the parties to the fighting in southern Syria had agreed on “specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight”.

“This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do,” Rubio said on X of the ceasefire deal, reached one day after an earlier iteration had collapsed.

More than 300 people had been killed in fighting as of Wednesday morning, including four children, eight women and 165 soldiers and security forces, according to the UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Army withdrawal from Suwayda

The Syrian Ministry of Interior and Druze leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou confirmed on Wednesday that they had reached a ceasefire. But the new deal was rejected by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, another Druze leader, who promised to continue fighting until Suwayda was “entirely liberated”.

According to the ministry, the deal declares a “total and immediate halt to all military operations”, as well as the formation of a committee comprising government officials and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation.

That evening, the Syrian Ministry of Defence said it had begun withdrawing the army from Suwayda “in implementation of the terms of the adopted agreement after the end of the sweep of the city for outlaw groups”.

Speaking shortly before Rubio’s announcement of a deal, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce had said that the US wanted Syrian government forces to “withdraw their military in order to enable all sides to de-escalate and find a path forward”.

But while Syrian troops are withdrawing, the government will be maintaining a presence in the city,

Reporting from Syria’s capital Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said the deal included the “deployment of government forces”.

“They will set up checkpoints, and this area will be fully integrated into the Syrian state,” she said.

A complete withdrawal by the government would, she said, “mean a failure in efforts by the new authorities to unite a fractured nation and extend its authority across Syria”.

“But staying could open a much bigger conflict with Israel that has promised more strikes if, in the words of Katz, the message wasn’t received.”

Pretext to bomb

The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between Druze armed factions and local Sunni Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Suwayda.

Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze, with reports of the former carrying out human rights abuses, according to local monitors and analysts.

The actions committed by members of the security forces – acknowledged as “unlawful criminal acts” by the Syrian presidency – have given Israel a pretext to bombard Syria as it builds military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria seized by its forces.

Haid Haid, consulting fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that Israel had been clear since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last year that they did not want Syrian forces “to be deployed to the deconfliction line in southern Syria”.

“One way Israel is trying to advance that plan is to present itself as the ‘protectors’ of the Druze community,” Haid said.

Ammar Kahf, the Damascus-based executive director of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, said: “It’s a clear message to the Syrian government that the Israelis are not going to be silent.

“The Israelis are not going to allow the Syrian government to spread its authority all over the territory.”

A roundup of key international reactions after Israeli air strikes near the defence ministry and presidential palace in Syria’s capital.

Israel has launched several air strikes in the heart of the Syrian capital, Damascus, as clashes continued in the southwestern city of Suwayda after a truce between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defence on Wednesday, hours after he had demanded Syrian government forces withdraw from Suwayda.

Another strike hit near the presidential palace, on the outskirts of the city.

At least one person was killed and 18 others were wounded in the attacks, Syrian state media reported, citing the Ministry of Health.

The attacks on Syria’s capital come amid continuing unrest in the city of Suwayda, where local Sunni Bedouin tribes have been engaged in fierce clashes in recent days with fighters from Syria’s Druze minority, whom Israel views as a potential ally in Syria and claims to be intervening to protect.

Damascus deployed its forces to the city on Tuesday and declared a ceasefire, but the fighting quickly resumed.

Here is how the world is reacting to Israel’s attacks on Damascus:

United States

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was “very concerned” about the escalation in violence.

“We’re going to be working on that issue … I just got off the phone with the relevant parties. We’re very concerned about it, and hopefully, we’ll have some updates later today. But we’re very concerned about it,” Rubio said

Turkiye

Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attacks and said they were an attempt to sabotage Syria’s efforts to achieve peace, stability and security.

“The Syrian people have a historic opportunity to live in peace and integrate with the world,” the ministry said.

“All stakeholders who support this opportunity should contribute to the Syrian government’s efforts to restore peace.”

Omer Celik, spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing AK Party, also condemned the attacks.

“Israel’s attacks pose a security threat to the entire region and the world,” Celik wrote on X.

GCC

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – condemned the attacks in the “strongest terms”.

In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said the Israeli attacks were a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty, “a breach of international laws and norms, and a serious threat to regional security and stability”.

Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity, adding that the continuation of Israeli attacks constituted an “irresponsible escalation” and disregarded international efforts to achieve stability in Syria and the region.

Norway

The Norwegian foreign minister said that Israel’s recent strikes could undermine efforts towards a peaceful transition of power in Syria.

“Deeply concerned about recent Israeli airstrikes and rising domestic tensions. The escalation risks undermining efforts towards a peaceful, Syrian-owned transition,” Espen Barth Eide wrote on X.

He said he was “alarmed” by the “escalating violence” in Syria and urged all actors to exercise “maximum restraint”.

The Israeli bombings come after the Syrian government and a Druze leader both said the truce had been broken.

Israeli forces have launched air strikes on Suwayda in southern Syria, as fighting returned to the predominantly Druze city hours after the Syrian government declared a ceasefire.

The Syrian Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Tuesday that armed groups had resumed attacks on Syrian government forces with support from the Israeli Air Force.

Syria condemned Israel’s intervention as a violation of international law, while influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri said in a statement that it was Syrian government troops who breached a truce announced earlier in the day.

The Israeli air attacks came after Hikmat al-Hajri urged local fighters to confront what he described as a barbaric attack from government forces.

Israel has claimed its attacks on the southern Syrian region bordering Israel are meant to protect the Druze minority, which it sees as potential allies.

In a statement shared on social media, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said that Israel could not “stand idly by” as the Druze engaged in fighting.

“We see massacres and insults against the Druze, and we must fight against the terrorism regime in Syria,” Chikli said, claiming it was a “grave mistake” to acknowledge Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as the “legitimate leader” of the country.

Fighting between Bedouin tribes and local Druze fighters has reportedly killed more than 30 people and injured more than 100 since Sunday in Suwayda. Bedouin and Druze armed factions have a longstanding feud in Suwayda, with violence occasionally erupting.

United States envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Washington was in contact with all sides “to navigate towards calm and integration”.

Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid reporting from Damascus said that the situation in Suwayda has “further escalated, with multiple Israeli drone and air strikes they claim are in support of Druze fighters”.

Syrian government declared ‘complete ceasefire’

The latest developments come hours after Syrian Minister of Defence Murhaf Abu Qasra declared a truce in a post on social media, saying: “To all units operating within the city of Suwayda, we declare a complete ceasefire.”

Abu Qasra’s announcement came shortly after the ministry deployed government forces to halt the fighting between Bedouin tribes and local fighters. The recent fighting was the first outbreak of deadly violence in the area since fighting between members of the Druze community and security forces killed dozens of people in April and May.

Syria’s Druze population numbers about 700,000, with Suwayda being home to the sect’s largest community. The Druze religious sect is a minority group that originated as a 10th-century offshoot of a branch of Shia Islam.

In Syria, the Druze primarily reside in the southern Suwayda province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south. Since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, concerns have been raised over the rights and safety of minorities under the new authorities, who have also struggled to re-establish security more broadly.

In April, hundreds of Alawite civilians were killed in apparent retribution after fighting broke out between government forces and armed groups loyal to al-Assad, who belongs to the Alawite religious sect.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on neighbouring Syria since December 2024, averaging one every three to four days.

The latest attacks come as the Netanyahu government continues to wage war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 58,479 people since October 2023.

As well as Gaza and Syria, Israel has also launched attacks on the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Iran and Yemen in recent months.

Syria’s new government is facing a serious challenge.

This time, it is not from foreign powers or from remnants of the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, but instead, from within the country’s own borders.

Tensions have flared in the south, where fighting between members of the Druze minority and Bedouin groups has reignited fears of wider sectarian unrest.

The violence comes as Druze spiritual leaders refuse to recognise the authority of President Ahmed Sharaa – the man now leading the post-Assad transition government.

And in a move that could further inflame tensions, Israel has warned Damascus not to harm the Druze.

Are the concerns of the community justified?

And what does all this mean for the unity of Syria?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Louay Safi – Syrian political scientist and former professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University

Shadi Abou Karam – Political activist and researcher originally from Suwayda Province in Syria

Sami Akil – Political analyst and acadamic specialising in Syrian affairs

The move follows the lifting of sanctions on Damascus after the fall of the al-Assad government last year.

The United States will revoke its designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) as Washington softens its approach to post-war Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

The decision, which takes effect on Tuesday, comes as part of US President Donald Trump’s broader strategy to re-engage with Syria and support its reconstruction after more than a decade of devastating conflict.

“This FTO revocation is an important step in fulfilling President Trump’s vision of a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Monday.

HTS had been designated as a “terrorist” group by the US since 2018 due to its former ties to al-Qaeda.

The group emerged out of the al-Nusra Front, once al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, but formally severed those ties in 2016 after HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa declared the group’s independence.

Al-Sharaa, who led the opposition forces that removed al-Assad in a lightning offensive last December, has since become Syria’s president.

He has launched what many experts have described as a charm offensive aimed at Western powers, including meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and, most recently, Trump in Riyadh in May.

The Trump administration and the European Union have since lifted sanctions on Syria.

“In line with President Trump’s May 13 promise to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, I am announcing my intent to revoke the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Rubio said.

“Tomorrow’s action follows the announced dissolution of HTS and the Syrian government’s commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms.”

HTS was dissolved in late January, with its forces folded into the official Syrian military and security forces.

Damascus welcomed the US decision as a step towards normalisation. In a statement, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the delisting of HTS was a “positive step toward correcting a course that previously hindered constructive engagement”.

The ministry added that it hoped the move would “contribute to the removal of remaining restrictions that continue to impact Syrian institutions and officials, and open the door to a rational, sovereign-based approach to international cooperation”.

Meanwhile, HTS remains under United Nations Security Council sanctions, which were imposed in 2014 over its previous affiliation with al-Qaeda. Al-Sharaa also remains under UNSC sanctions, which can only be removed by the Council itself.

Al-Sharaa is reportedly preparing to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this September.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting US sanctions on Syria and requesting a review of terrorism designations related to the nation. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna looks at how the decision aims to facilitate rebuilding post-war Syria.

US Treasury says it removed 518 Syrian individuals and entities from its list of sanctions after president’s decree.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle a web of sanctions against Syria, a move that will likely unlock investments in the country more than six months after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

Trump’s decree on Monday offers sanction relief to “entities critical to Syria’s development, the operation of its government, and the rebuilding of the country’s social fabric”, the US Treasury said in a statement.

The Syrian government has been under heavy US financial penalties that predate the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011.

The sprawling sanction programme, which included provisions related to the former government’s human rights abuses, has derailed reconstruction efforts in the country. It has also contributed to driving the Syrian economy under al-Assad to the verge of collapse.

Trump promised sanctions relief for Syria during his visit to the Middle East in May.

“The United States is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbours,” the US president said in a statement on Monday.

“A united Syria that does not offer a safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensures the security of its religious and ethnic minorities will support regional security and prosperity.”

The US administration said Syria-related sanctions against al-Assad and his associates, ISIL (ISIS) and Iran and its allies will remain in place.

While the US Treasury said it already removed 518 Syrian individuals and entities from its list of sanctions, some Syria penalties may not be revoked immediately.

For example, Trump directs US agencies to determine whether the conditions are met to remove sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act, which enabled heavy penalties against the Syrian economy for alleged war crimes against civilians.

Democratic US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had partnered with Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna to introduce earlier this week a bill that would legislatively lift sanctions on Syria to offer long-term relief.

Real relief for the Syrian people requires repealing certain laws.

My bill with @RepLuna permanently repeals the sanctions and gives the post-Assad Syria a fighting chance. https://t.co/gExbLiKS7z

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 30, 2025

As part of Trump’s order, the US president ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review the designation of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.

Moreover, the US president ordered a review of the status of al-Sharaa’s group, al-Nusra Front – now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – as a designated “foreign terrorist” organisation. Al-Nusra was al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, but al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016.

Al-Nusra later became known as Jabhat Fath al-Sham before merging with other rebel groups as HTS.

Al-Sharaa was the de facto leader of a rebel enclave in Idlib in northwest Syria for years before leading the offensive that overthrew al-Assad in December 2024.

Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and praised the Syrian president as “attractive” and “tough”.

The interim Syrian president – who was previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani – has promised inclusive governance to allay concerns about his past ties to al-Qaeda.

But violence and kidnappings against members of al-Assad’s Alawite sect by former rebel fighters over the past months have raised concerns among some rights advocates.

Al-Sharaa has also pledged that Syria would not pose a threat to its neighbours, including Israel, which has been advancing in Syrian territory beyond the occupied Golan Heights and regularly bombing the country.

It’s a recurring nightmare likely shared by many Syrians who fled their homeland during the war – a mirage of home and hope, slipping away.

Directed by Yazan Rabee, BACK is a short documentary that follows those who return in their sleep to ghostly hometowns, hunted down by menacing forces.

Blending intimate testimony with striking visuals, BACK explores how political violence becomes embedded in the subconscious, especially for those who long for home from life in exile.

But as Rabee asks, did the nightmare really begin in 2012, with the uprising against president Bashar al-Assad? Or did the trauma take root decades earlier, during the brutal reign of Bashar’s father?

The Rukban displacement camp, which opened and was cut off in the height of the civil war in 2014, housed thousands of people.

The notorious Rukban displacement camp in the Syrian desert, a dark emblem of the country’s civil war, has closed, with the last remaining families returning to their hometowns.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on Saturday on X that with the dismantlement of the camp, “a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime’s war machine comes to a close”.

“Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert,” he added.

The camp, established in 2014 at the height of the country’s ruinous civil war, was built in a deconfliction zone controlled by the United States-led coalition forces fighting against ISIL (ISIS).

The camp was used to house those fleeing ISIL fighters and bombardment by the then-government of President Bashar al-Assad, seeking refuge and hoping to eventually cross the border into Jordan.

But al-Assad’s regime rarely allowed aid to enter the camp as neighbouring countries also blocked access to the area, rendering Rukban isolated for years under a punishing siege.

About 8,000 people lived in the camp, staying in mud-brick houses with food and basic goods smuggled in at high prices.

But after al-Assad was toppled following a lightning offensive led by the current president of Syria’s interim government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in December, families began leaving the camp and returning home.

Al-Sharaa has promised to unite Syria following the fall of al-Assad and rebuild the country at home and rejoin the international fold abroad.

Last month, al-Sharaa met with world leaders, including United States President Donald Trump, who announced that sanctions on Syria would be removed in a decision that would allow the country a “chance at greatness”. The European Union followed suit and also lifted sanctions. Both moves have given Syria a critical lifeline to economic recovery after nearly 14 years of war and economic devastation.

‘A castle in my eyes’

Yasmine al-Salah, who returned to her home after nine years of displacement in the Rukban camp and marked the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha, told The Associated Press news agency on Friday that her feelings are a “happiness that cannot be described”.

“Even though our house is destroyed, and we have no money, and we are hungry, and we have debts, and my husband is old and can’t work, and I have kids – still, it’s a castle in my eyes,” al-Salah said.

Her home in the town of al-Qaryatan in the eastern part of the Homs province was damaged during the war.

Syrian Minister for Emergency Situations and Disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp’s closure marks “the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people”.

“We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety,” he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their homes since al-Assad’s fall.

Israeli military says it shelled targets in Syria in response to a pair of projectile launches.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned an Israeli strike on the Syrian province of Deraa, saying that it caused “significant human and material losses”, the state news agency SANA reports.

The strike came after the Israeli military said that two projectiles had crossed from Syria towards Israel on Tuesday, and fell in open areas in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, though the Syrian Foreign Ministry said these were “reports that have not been verified yet”.

The ministry reiterated that Syria has not and would not pose a threat to any party in the region.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the projectiles.

“We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilise the region to achieve their own interests,” the ministry added.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the projectiles.

“We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire towards the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon,” Katz said.

Syria and Israel have recently engaged in indirect talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of the conflict in the Middle East for decades.

Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named the Muhammad Deif Brigades, an apparent reference to Hamas’s military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024.

The statement from the group could not be independently verified.

The Israeli army said it attacked southern Syria with artillery fire after the projectiles launched at Israel.

Residents said that Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Deraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.

Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that has destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s removal in December, citing lingering concerns over the past of the country’s new government.

Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel’s Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group has been launching attacks against Israel in what they say is in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.

US envoy says Syria strategy ‘will not be like the last 100 years’ as troops pull out.

The United States will shut down most of its military bases in Syria, consolidating operations to a single location, as part of a policy overhaul announced by its new special envoy.

Thomas Barrack, appointed by President Donald Trump last month as the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, said the shift marks a rejection of Washington’s past century of failed approaches in Syria.

In an interview with the Turkish broadcaster NTV on Monday, Barrack said the troop drawdown and base closures reflect a strategic recalibration.

“What I can assure you is that our current Syria policy will not be close to the Syria policy of the last 100 years because none of these have worked,” he said.

US forces are expected to withdraw from seven of eight bases, including those in Deir Az Zor province in eastern Syria, with remaining operations centred in Hasakah in the northeast.

Two security sources told the Reuters news agency that US military hardware and personnel have already started relocating. “All troops are being pulled from Deir Az Zor,” one source told Reuters in April.

A US Department of State official later said troop levels would be adjusted “if and when appropriate”, depending on operational demands.

Roughly 2,000 American soldiers remain in Syria, largely embedded with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key partner in the US-led campaign against ISIL (ISIS).

The SDF, dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia, has been a longstanding point of contention with NATO ally Turkiye, which views it as linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK, which recently announced its disbandment, fought a decades-long armed rebellion against the Turkish state.

Barrack called the SDF “a very important factor” for the US Congress, stressing that integrating the group into Syria’s national army is now a priority. “Everyone needs to be reasonable in their expectations,” he said.

Since the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, international engagement with Damascus has resumed under new President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Barrack recently raised the US flag over the ambassador’s residence in Damascus for the first time since 2012.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the SDF last week, accusing it of “stalling tactics” despite its agreement to join the Syrian armed forces.

Saudi and Qatari efforts aim to stabilise Syria by funding public-sector salaries and boosting economic recovery plans.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has said that the kingdom and Qatar will offer joint financial support to state employees in Syria.

His statements came on Saturday during a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani in Damascus.

The two Gulf nations have been among the most important regional supporters of Syria’s new authorities, who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of war.

Saturday’s statement did not provide details on the exact amount of the support for Syria’s public sector. However, it comes after Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yosr Bernieh said earlier in May that Qatar was going to provide Syria with $29m per month for an initial three months to pay civilian public sector worker salaries.

The Reuters news agency had also reported that the United States had given its blessing to the Qatari initiative, which came a few days before President Donald Trump announced that sanctions on Syria imposed during the al-Assad regime would be lifted. The European Union has since also lifted sanctions on Syria.

Further evidence of Saudi Arabian and Qatari support came in mid-May, when it was announced that the two countries had paid off Syria’s debt to the World Bank, a sum of roughly $15m.

International ties

Syria’s new government, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has sought to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties and convince wary Western states that he has turned his back on past ties with groups such as al-Qaeda.

The Syrian leader has repeatedly disavowed extremism and expressed support for minorities, but incidents of violence that has led to hundreds of deaths continue to cause international trepidation – even as the government and al-Sharaa denounce the killings.

Syria’s new government has also made a concerted effort to solidify ties to Gulf Arab states who have begun to play a pivotal role in financing the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure and reviving its economy.

On Tuesday, the European Union announced it had adopted legal acts lifting all economic restrictive measures on Syria except those based on security grounds. It also removed 24 entities from the EU list of those subject to the freesing of funds and economic resources, including the Central Bank of Syria.

And after Saudi Arabia and Qatar cleared Syria’s debt to the World Bank, the US-based financial institution said that it would restart operations in the country following a 14-year pause.

The World Bank has begun to prepare its first project in Syria, which will focus on improving electricity access – a key pillar for revitalising essential services like healthcare, education, and water supply. It also marked the start of expanded support to stabilise Syria and boost long-term growth.

Syria’s gradual re-integration into the global economy is in large part due to Trump’s dramatic shift in Washington’s policies towards the country. After announcing the lifting of US sanctions on May 13, Trump also became the first US president in 25 years to meet with a Syrian counterpart.

The US had already removed a $10m reward for the capture of al-Sharaa, and the Syrian president has been able to travel internationally and meet world leaders, including in Saudi Arabia and France.

Still, there is a lot to be done. A February report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to return to the economic level it had before the war, and it called for massive investment to accelerate the process.

The UNDP study said nine out of 10 Syrians now live in poverty, one-quarter are jobless and Syria’s gross domestic product “has shrunk to less than half of its value” in 2011, the year the war began.

Aref Shamtan, 73, chose to erect a tent near his decimated home in northwest Syria instead of remaining in a displacement camp following the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

“I feel good here, even among the rubble,” Shamtan said, sipping tea at the tent near his field.

Upon returning with his son after al-Assad was toppled in December, Shamtan discovered his village of al-Hawash, situated amid farmland in central Hama province, severely damaged.

His house had lost its roof and suffered cracked walls. Nevertheless, “living in the rubble is better than living in the camps” near the Turkish border, where he had resided since fleeing the conflict in 2011, Shamtan explained.

Since al-Assad’s downfall after nearly 14 years of war, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration reports that 1.87 million Syrians who were refugees abroad or internally displaced have returned to their places of origin.

The IOM identifies the “lack of economic opportunities and essential services” as the greatest challenge facing returnees.

Unable to afford rebuilding, Shamtan decided approximately two months ago to leave the camp with his family and young grandchildren, and has begun planting wheat on his land.

Al-Hawash had been under al-Assad’s control and bordered front lines with neighbouring Idlib province, which became a stronghold for opposition groups, particularly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the opposition fighters that spearheaded the offensive that toppled the former president.

“We cannot stay in the camps,” Shamtan maintained, even though “the village is all destroyed … and life is non-existent,” lacking fundamental services and infrastructure.

“We decided … to live here until things improve. We are waiting for organisations and the state to help us,” he added. “Life is tough.”

Local official Abdel Ghafour al-Khatib, 72, has also returned after escaping in 2019 with his wife and children to a camp near the border.

“I just wanted to get home. I was overjoyed … I returned and pitched a worn-out tent. Living in my village is the important thing,” he stated.

“Everyone wants to return,” he noted. However, many cannot afford transportation in a country where 90 percent of the population lives in poverty.

“There is nothing here – no schools, no health clinics, no water and no electricity,” al-Khatib said while sitting on the ground in his tent near what remains of his home.

The conflict, which erupted in 2011 following al-Assad’s brutal suppression of antigovernment protests, killed more than 500,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population either internally or abroad, with many seeking refuge in Idlib province.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than six million people remain internally displaced.

The meeting comes after the US and the EU agreed to lift sanctions to allow the civil war-hit country to recover and rebuild.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted.

The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye’s state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation director Ibrahim Kalin, and secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun were part of the talks, which were closed to the press.

Al-Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria.

Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria’s recovery after years of civil war.

The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a “positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.

The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the al-Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country’s civil war.

The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the al-Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.

The European Union has lifted all sanctions on Syria. The decision follows Donald Trump’s recent announcement than the US would also lift sanctions, as Syria’s new government looks to rebuild the country.

Explosion reported in Al-Mayadeen, in the Deir az Zor countryside, also wounds several people.

At least three people have been killed in a blast targeting a police station in the eastern Syrian town of Al-Mayadeen, the SANA state news agency has reported, citing a security source.

The explosion in the Deir az Zor countryside on Sunday also injured several people, the report said, without providing further details.

A video verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad shows the aftermath of the explosion.

The incident took place a day after Syrian authorities said security forces killed three ISIL (ISIS) fighters and arrested four others in Aleppo. It was the first time the interim government announced such an operation against the armed group.

The raids, launched by the General Security Department in coordination with the General Intelligence Directorate, targeted multiple ISIL sleeper cells operating across Aleppo, Syria’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Saturday. One security officer was killed in the operation, it said.

Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who assumed power in Damascus in December, has long opposed ISIL. His forces battled the group’s self-declared caliphate during the Syrian war.

Al-Sharaa seized power after his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group led a lightning opposition offensive that toppled Syria’s longtime President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Sharaa cut ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.

The recent operation comes just months after Syrian authorities said they had foiled an ISIL bombing plot near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, a key pilgrimage site for Shia Muslims south of Damascus.

This also comes after US President Donald Trump stunned the world by announcing on Tuesday that the United States was going to lift sanctions on the country – a move that Syrians hope will help their nation reintegrate into the global economy, and bring much-needed investment.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 16 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s unexpected approach to Syria has presented a significant opportunity for the country’s interim president, Ahmad Sharaa, to prove that he can overcome the enormous challenges he faces and lead the war-torn nation toward recovery and stabilization, political analysts and experts said.

Trump’s announcement of the cessation of U.S. sanctions, along with his meeting with Sharaa — a former jihadist who, until recently, was on the U.S. most-wanted list with a $10 million bounty on his head — marked a turning point and the beginning of a new chapter for Syria nearly six months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad and his Baathist regime.

With Assad gone, the sanctions were increasingly seen as only prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people and worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian conditions.

Had the sanctions remained in place, Syria would have become a failed state, as it was just weeks away from financial collapse, according to Mouaz Mustafa of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Mustafa warned that continued sanctions would have led to disastrous consequences for both the region and the world.

With layers of sanctions in place since 1979, the process of lifting them remains unclear, and experts say it will take time.

“There is a huge difference between deciding to lift sanctions and actually lifting them,” Nanar Hawach, a senior Syria analyst for the International Crisis Group, told UPI.

However, he said it would be “a game-changer” for the economy, giving the green light for the private sector and other stakeholders involved in Syria to step in and “be more bold.”

Since taking over after Assad’s ouster, Sharaa has repeatedly called for the lifting of U.S. and other international sanctions to allow his country to breathe again. He understands that without funding and financial support, there is little he can do to put Syria back on track.

Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the continuation of sanctions was hindering the country’s ability to recover and move forward.

Yacoubian noted that removing the sanctions would open the way for Gulf countries in particular to “do more” and channel more resources toward Syria’s early recovery and stabilization, and eventually, reconstruction — provided it is done “transparently and in a responsible way.”

However, Syria’s problems will not be resolved simply by ending the sanctions.

Sharaa is facing “very significant issues,” including sectarian tensions, the need for transitional justice, and how to manage the more extreme elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS — the group he led before becoming president — as well as affiliated factions on which he continues to rely while trying to consolidate control.

“So how will he use this newfound breathing space and the anticipated resources to consolidate his personal power, or rather to put Syria on a more sustainable path toward stability and, ultimately, peace?” Yacoubian asked rhetorically.

She added that he will have to demonstrate a willingness to undertake complex processes related to transitional justice, inclusive governance, and national reconciliation.

According to Hawach, Trump has given Sharaa “the benefit of the doubt,” and the new leadership in Damascus will need to seize this opportunity to meet internal and external expectations.

“How willing are they to take bold, risky steps such as distancing themselves from their radical base and expanding to include a broader range of constituencies?” he asked. “Are they prepared to take courageous actions to rein in or address the presence of foreign fighters? Would they focus on other issues, such as building institutional capacity or strengthening military capabilities?”

Trump, who described Sharaa as an “attractive, tough guy,” urged him to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel, expel foreign fighters from Syria, deport Palestinian militants, assist the U.S. in preventing an ISIS resurgence and take responsibility for ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria.

What Syrians want most is a more inclusive national dialogue and political process, the formation of a national army and measures to address the fears of minority groups.

Anas Joudeh, a political researcher and founder of the Nation Building Movement in Syria, said the first step would be for Sharaa to seriously engage with all of the country’s constituencies, restart the national dialogue, adopt a new constitution, and form a more inclusive government.

“We can’t expect things to be perfect right now,” Joudeh told UPI. “We will strongly support any move toward greater inclusivity, as the country is heading toward total economic and social collapse.”

He said the key to Syria’s successful transition is the formation of a national army, which poses a “big challenge” for Sharaa. This includes absorbing the armed factions, addressing the foreign fighters who still maintain control in several areas and convincing the Druze, Alawites and Kurds to lay down their weapons.

“But that would be very difficult if Sharaa keeps on [running the country] with the same mentality,” Joudeh said.

Sharaa will, therefore, need to address the concerns of the Druze, Alawites and Kurds, find solutions to mitigate feelings of existential threat, impose security and, ultimately, act not as a faction leader, but as the leader of the entire country, Hawach said.

“If they decide to make positive steps towards these communities, this is the perfect time to do so,” he added.

He explained that with the possibility of accessing much-needed funds, the country can recruit for the army, establish better command control and gain more leverage to deal with armed factions that are not yet fully under the new authorities’ control.

Makram Rabah, a political activist and history professor at the American University of Beirut, said Trump’s meeting with Sharaa will put more pressures on him to act as a political leader.

“Lifting the sanctions sent a message not only to Sharaa but also to the Druze, Kurds and Alawites: that there is political cover, a form of settlement, and a need to work together,” Rabah told UPI. “However, this is far from easy.”