The United States Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barak, declared on Thursday that Damascus, following its accession to the Washington-led international coalition against the so-called Islamic State group, will contribute to confronting and dismantling what he described as terrorist networks. These include remnants of the group, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Barak’s remarks came a day after Washington announced Syria’s formal entry into the coalition late Wednesday as its ninetieth member. The move was finalised during the transitional president Ahmad Al Shar’a’s historic visit to the White House on Monday, a visit framed in US rhetoric as a break from his past associations.
Writing on the X platform, Barak claimed that from this point forward “Damascus will actively assist in confronting and dismantling the remnants of the Islamic State group, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist networks, and will stand as a committed partner in the international effort to establish peace”.
Ahead of the visit, the United States removed Al Shar’a from its terrorism list on Friday, one day after the United Nations Security Council lifted sanctions imposed on him.
Barak added that during the visit Al Shar’a pledged to President Trump his commitment to joining the international coalition against the Islamic State group. He described the coalition as a historic framework symbolising Syria’s transition from being labelled by Washington as a source of terrorism to what it now calls a partner in counterterrorism, and a partner in reconstruction, cooperation, and efforts to stabilise an entire region.
He further stated that the summit between Al Shar’a and Trump represented “a decisive turning point” in the modern history of the Middle East.
According to Barak, the meeting was friendly and productive, during which both presidents expressed their mutual belief in shifting from estrangement to engagement and giving Syria and its people a genuine opportunity to rise again.
Following the Trump Al Shar’a meeting, a trilateral session was held between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The session reportedly defined “the next stage of the American Turkish Syrian framework”.
Barak explained that the framework includes the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the economic, defence, and civil structures of what Washington calls the new Syria, redefining relations between Turkey, Syria, and the Israeli occupation, advancing the agreement that produced the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and addressing several border related issues involving Lebanon.
For years, Iran, through its Revolutionary Guard Corps, played a central role in supporting the deposed Syrian president Bashar Al Assad after peaceful protests erupted in 2011, protests that were met with brutal repression by the regime. Iranian military intervention, alongside loyalist groups including Hezbollah, and later Russian airpower, shifted the balance of power on the ground in Assad’s favour until his rule ultimately collapsed in 2024. Iran has maintained a significant military presence in Syria up to that point.
The United States continues to deploy troops in Syria and Iraq within the international coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group after it seized vast territories in both countries. The group was expelled from its last strongholds in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.
Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, had announced in an interview with Agence France Presse in October that an initial agreement was reached with the transitional authorities regarding the mechanism for integrating his forces into the Ministries of Defence and Interior.
Abdi welcomed Syria’s accession to the coalition in a post on X on Tuesday, considering it “a pivotal step toward strengthening joint efforts and supporting initiatives aimed at achieving the group’s lasting defeat and eliminating its threat to the region”.
He added that he reaffirmed his commitment to “accelerating the process of integrating the Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian state structure” during a call with Barak that focused on Al Shar’a’s visit to Washington.
