US President Donald Trump said on Monday his administration is working with Israel to get along with Syria.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House, Trump said, “People say he’s had a rough past. We’ve all had a rough past.”
Trump added that he gets along well with Sharaa, expressing confidence that he will be able to do the job.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the meeting between Sharaa and Trump that the US affirmed its support to reach a security deal between Israel and Syria.
Recently, al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus that ongoing negotiations with Israel on a security pact could lead to results “in the coming days”
Sharaa stated that if the security pact is successful, it could lead to “additional agreements”, but also clarified that a normalization or peace deal with Israel are not on the table at this time.
An August report stated that the Trump administration is actively working to broker a preliminary security understanding between Israel and Syria ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting this month.
However, US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack later clarified that Israel and Syria are not close to signing a security agreement, adding that “there is still more work to do.”