President Donald Trump informed President Ahmed al-Sharaa that he is giving Syria and Israel one month to reach an agreement.
“Trump told Sharaa that he had given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a month to finalise the security deal with Damascus,” a source familiar with the call between the US and Syrian leaders told Middle East Eye. “Significant progress has been made in the talks with Israel. The only issue is Jabal al-Sheikh [Mount Hermon]. There is agreement on the rest.”
A senior Western official explained that Israel is refusing to withdraw from Mount Hermon.
In 2024, Sharaa took power from the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad. Israel exploited the chaos to bomb hundreds of military sites in Syria and capture a large area in the country’s southwest.
Israel has offered to withdraw from Syria if Damascus agrees to allow Tel Aviv to use its airspace to strike Iran.
The source indicated that Trump also greenlit the Sharaa’s military operations against the Syrian Kurds. For over a decade, Syria controlled an autonomous region in eastern Syria with American support.
Over the past month, fighting between the Syrian government and Kurds has escalated, with Sharaa’s forces gaining territory.
Sharaa was previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Sharaa is a former ISIS commander and the founder of the al-Qaeda affiliate group in Syria.
Following the call, Trump told reporters that he had “a great conversation” with “the highly respected president of Syria.”
