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United States President Donald Trump offered Israel peace with Syria in exchange for ending the war on the Gaza Strip, Israel Hayom reported on July 7, citing “sources close to the White House.”
The report claims that Trump sent an envoy to Damascus to nail down an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement with the U.S. as guarantor.
The report did not name the official or say who they are meeting. Notably, U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack arrived in Damascus two days after the release of the report, where he met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In addition, the U.S. announced on July 7 that it was revoking a foreign terrorist organization designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group once linked to Al-Qaeda that took down the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad after a lighting offensive last December before installing its own government led by Sharaa and dissolving itself.
According to Israel Hayom, Trump’s hope is to finalize key elements by July 10, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still in Washington: a hostage deal involving a two-month ceasefire in Gaza, potentially extendable, and a parallel agreement with Syria, all under U.S. guarantees to ensure Israel’s security.
Last week, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the country was holding “advanced talks” with Syria, without elaborating.
“There is absolutely an aspiration to expand the Abraham Accords, and it’s no secret that we want to see Syria in this,” the official continued. “And there may be an opportunity.”
Other recent reports from Hebrew and Arab media revealed that Sharaa agreed to give up on the country’s claim to the Golan Heights, or at least two thirds of the occupied region. However, the country appears to be keen on regaining control over the adjacent buffer zone in southern Syria, which Israel invaded following the fall of the Assad regime.
Overall, a peace deal between Israel and Syria, or at least some sort of a public understanding appears to be months, or even just weeks away.
It remains unclear how Sharaa’s Islamist base will receive such a deal. While many are not likely against peace in principle, they could use it as an excuse to take action against the president, especially considering that the security situation in Syria remains fragile.
A recent report by Lebanon’s L’Orient Today revealed that Sharaa himself had escaped at least two assassination attempts in March and May. His intelligence chief Hussein al-Salama survived an attempt on his life later in June, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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