Syria’s new leader ‘open’ to joining Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel, US reps who met him say

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has privately expressed openness to joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel in a move that would dramatically shake up the Middle East, according to two congressmen who met with him last month.

In exchange, al-Sharaa wanted assurances that Israel would stop bombing Syria, stop fomenting sectarian divisions and reach a renegotiated arrangement regarding the Golan Heights, Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Martin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Post.

“He said, ‘We’re open to not only recognizing Israel, but also to try and join the Abraham Accords, but they must stop bombing within our nation,’” Mills recounted.

Trump made waves last week during his Mideast trek when, after meeting with the Syrian leader, he boldly predicted that the “young, attractive” al-Sharaa would join the Abraham Accords, a signature foreign policy breakthrough of his first term, which saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize relations with Israel.

Prior to that prediction, al-Sharaa conveyed his openness to the Abraham Accords to both Mills and Stutzman during separate one-on-ones with the two reps, who were the first sitting members of Congress to visit Syria’s new leader since the abrupt collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December.

Stutzman claimed that al-Sharaa told him “he would be open to the Abraham Accords” on two major conditions.

“[For] the first one was, he said that Israel had a plan to divide the country up into separate parts. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what he told me, and he said that that would be a deal breaker,” Stutzman explained. “He wants to keep Syria unified…any effort to divide the country into regional parts or sectarian parts was not acceptable.”

“The second one was the Golan Heights, and the encroachment around the Golan Heights — that they would have to negotiate with Israel further on that.”

The Golan Heights — a major sticking point

The Syrian leader didn’t specify whether joining the Abraham Accords would be contingent on getting back the Golan Heights, but simply stipulated that “they would have to come to some agreement,” according to Stutzman’s recollection.

The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in Syria’s southwest region nestled between Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Israel took over the strip of land during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981.

During the 1970s, Syria unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim the land during the Yom Kippur War. The brutal Assad family came into power in 1971 shortly before that war.

The Trump administration formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019.

Historically, Syria has been adamant that no peace arrangement can be made with Israel until it relinquishes the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state views as a critical security buffer zone.

“I don’t think the Syrian government would abandon the sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” an incoming assistant minister for the Americas in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Syria told The Post. “The Golan Heights are for all Syrians. They’re not for President al-Sharaa to give away to anyone.”

Qutaiba Idlbi, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs who leads its Syria work and was a refugee of the Assad regime, suggested the two sides could look to “creative solutions” to address Israel’s security concerns.

“I know some of the mediators, for example, have pushed for the idea to provide a long-term lease to Israel over the Golan Heights to kind of allow some time for confidence-building,” he said, “and then have a conversation later after that lease is over about the future of that region.”

Idlbi said he doesn’t “expect that President al-Sharaa would link a deal with Israel to a change in this situation in Palestine,” but noted that Syria is also already making overtures to Israel with efforts to crack down on terrorism.

“The issue of the Palestinian militias that are already in Syria have been raised in different meetings,” he said. “The [Syrian] government has made it very clear that there will be no presence for any sort of military movement — whether Palestinian or not — on the Syrian land.

“That is already something that Syria is working on, regardless of whether you know there is a deal or not.”

‘A regional hero’

While there are big hurdles in the way, Syria hypothetically joining the Abraham Accords would mark a monumental foreign policy breakthrough in the region.

“It’s extremely significant,” Mills said, “You’re talking about the possibility of continual stability in the region and further recognition and protection of the great state of Israel.”

Additionally, al-Sharaa’s purported openness to a deal with Israel comes as he is seemingly trying to mend Syria’s frayed relations with the West and Arab countries in the region.

“As long as I’ve been alive, Syria has been under the Assad [family] regime,” Stutzman reflected. “Al-Shara mentioned that he’s already pushed Hezbollah out of Lebanon. He’s pushing the Iranians out of Syria, and he’s talking with the Qataris, Saudis and UAE to further trade and commerce.”

“He would be a regional hero if he were able to pull off the vision that he has for Syria.”

Iran and Russia had long helped prop up the brutal Assad regime, which al-Sharaa fought against. Tehran has been heavily involved in Syrian telecommunications infrastructure, for example.

During his meetings with Mills and Stutzman, al-Sharaa claimed that he had an offer from Russia on business and military support, but wanted to talk with the West first.

Sanction relief and concerns about Syria’s potential collapse

Last week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman helped coordinate a meeting between al-Sharaa and Trump.

The president then quickly decided to implement a 180-day waiver on sanctions against the war-torn country, a move that happened so quickly that his Treasury was reportedly caught off guard.

“Their economy is in the toilet,” Stutzman said. “Letting the Syrian people rebuild their country is really important. And I also think that it keeps al-Shara open to the west, rather than being pushed back into the arms of the Russians or the Chinese.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ominously warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday that Damascus could be on the brink of another civil war and argued that Congress may need to provide support.

“It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks — not many months — away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up,” Rubio said during the committee hearing.

Past ties to terrorism and elections in Syria

There are plenty of skeptics of al-Sharaa in US foreign policy circles, given his past ties to Islamic extremism and affiliation with Al Qaeda, including during its activity in Iraq in 2003.

Director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who met with Assad in 2017, ripped al-Sharaa as an “Islamic extremist” who “danced on the streets after 9/11.”

“I think, which is very important, is not to look at people’s history and where they were,” Idlbi said. “I think the question that we need to look at is who are the people now.”

Another concern among observers has been Syria’s push to wait five years before holding elections. Stutzman argued that al-Sharaa made a compelling case for the delay.

“He said that first of all, they needed to rebuild the government, or they needed to build a government there that could handle the elections,” the congressman recalled. “It is going to take time for them to rebuild their country, find some sense of normalcy for them, and then they’ll focus on the elections.”

Their visit was unofficial and organized by the nonprofit group Syrian American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity.