Thomas Barrack said the US must 'give this young government a chance' amid its continued abduction and killing of members of the Alawite religious minority
News Desk - The Cradle
Barrack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkiye, said that Washington “wants peace between Syria and Israel and that the problem between them is solvable, but a dialogue must begin.”
He expressed his belief that there is a “need to start with a non-aggression agreement, followed by a dialogue about borders.”
After the fall of the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel carried out a mass bombing campaign to destroy the country's military capabilities and occupied additional Syrian territory in the Golan Heights, Quneitra, and Deraa.
Barrack also stated that US President Donald Trump “intends to remove Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” adding, “The intention of the United States and the president's vision is that we must give this young government a chance by not interfering.”
In March, members of Syria's new security forces massacred some 1,700 Alawite civilians over the course of three days in the coastal regions of the country. Since that time, Alawite men continue to be regularly abducted and murdered, while Alawite women are abducted and taken as sex slaves.
The US envoy to Syria previously stated that “Syria's rebirth must come through dignity, unity, and investment in its people,” adding that this “begins with truth and accountability, and working with the region, not around it.”
In a post on his X account on Sunday, Barrack stated that “the door to peace has opened” with the fall of the Assad government.
He added that by lifting the sanctions, the US “has enabled the Syrian people to finally open this door and discover the path to renewed prosperity and security.”
US sanctions imposed starting in 2011 crushed the Syrian economy, driving millions into poverty and destitution, as part of the effort to topple the Assad government.
Additional sanctions imposed in 2019 were designed to prevent Syria's post-war reconstruction. The US Treasury Department has issued waivers to bypass some sanctions, but Congress must pass a law to permanently revoke them.
Barrack also raised the American flag over the US ambassador's residence in the Syrian capital on Thursday.
Today's visit by Barrack marks the first official visit by a US official to the US embassy in Damascus since it was closed in 2012, a year after the outbreak of the war.
At that time, the US ambassador, Robert Ford, was withdrawn from Syria, and US envoys to the country instead operated from abroad.
In September 2011, journalist Wayne Madsen wrote that ambassador Ford was recruiting death squads of Al-Qaeda fighters to carry out attacks against Syrian police and military.
The US, Israel, and their regional partners launched a covert war to topple the Syrian government in March 2011 as part of the so-called Arab Spring.
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