The US ambassador to
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
, Tom Barrack, who has also been appointed special envoy to Syria, arrived to inaugurate the residence, Syrian state-run news agency
...and if you can't trust the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
SANA reported.
On Thursday, speaking to Saudi channel Al Arabiya in Damascus, Barrack described the long-standing conflict between Syria and Israel, who have technically been at war since 1948, as a "solvable problem" through dialogue, proposing a "non-aggression agreement" between them.
Rooters reported earlier this week that Israel and Syria are in direct contact and have, in recent weeks, held face-to-face meetings aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region.
Washington hasn’t formally reopened its embassy in Damascus, which closed in 2012 after protests against the government of strongman president Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
were met by a brutal crackdown and spiraled into civil war. Assad was unseated in December in a lightning rebel offensive.
But Barrack’s visit and the raising of the flag were a significant signal of warming relations.
Washington was initially circumspect about Syria’s new leaders, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former leader of an Islamist bad boy group that the US still lists as a terrorist organization.
However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
US President Donald Trump’s administration, encouraged by two US allies in the region, Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...and Turkey, has shown increasing openness to Damascus in recent weeks.
Trump held a surprise meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh earlier this month, and the US has begun to roll back decades of sanctions slapped on Syria under the Assad dynasty.
The US State Department posted a statement on X on Thursday attributed to Trump announcing Barrack’s appointment as envoy to Syria.
"Tom understands there is great potential in working with Syria to stop Radicalism, improve Relations, and secure Peace in the Middle East. Together, we will Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!" the statement said.
Barrack thanked Trump in an X post for "your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination."