Damascus (TDI): US Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack arrived at the ambassador’s residence in Damascus on Thursday, in the first official visit since the American embassy there closed in 2012, a year after Syria’s conflict broke out.
Barrack, accompanied by the Syrian foreign minister, was appointed as US Ambassador to Syria on May 23. He also serves as the US envoy to Turkiye, according to Reuters.
The US flag was hoisted Thursday outside of the ambassador’s residence in Damascus which remained closed for long time, in a sign of growing relations between Washington and the new Syrian government.
United States hasn’t formally reopened its embassy in Damascus, which closed in 2012 after demonstrations against the then President Bashar Assad, met by a brutal crackdown, spiraled into civil war. Assad regime was toppled in last December in a lightning rebel offensive.
Read More: US Begins Rolling Back Sanctions on Syria
But Barrack’s visit and the hoisting of the US flag were a significant signal of warming ties.
US was initially circumspect about Syria’s new leaders, led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the former leader of a militant group that the Washington still lists as a terrorist organization. However, the Trump administration — encouraged by two American allies in the region, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye — has in recent weeks shown increasing openness to Syria.
Read More: Trump Meets Syria’s Sharaa Amid Sanctions Relief
Trump held a surprise meeting with Al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier this month, and the US has started to roll back decades of sanctions imposed on Damascus under the Assad regime.
The US State Department in a statement said that Thomas Barrack understands there is great potential in working with Syria to stop radicalism, improve ties, and secure peace in the Middle East. Together, we will Make US and the World safe again.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
