Trump is betraying the West's allies in Syria

Telegraph

14-05-2025

If we have learnt anything from President Donald Trump's approach to world affairs, it is that the lure of lucrative trade deals will always take precedence over national security.
His overtures to Russia are based on the premise that ending the war in Ukraine could open up a new era of economic co-operation between Washington and Moscow. One of the driving factors in his drive for a nuclear deal with Tehran is the prospect of the US benefiting from peace in the Gulf region.
Trump's mercantilist approach has been in evidence during his visit to the Middle East this week, where he has signed an arms deal worth nearly $142 billion with Saudi Arabia. Having been treated as pariahs by the previous Biden administration, the Saudis are keen to restore ties with Washington.
The deals they have agreed with more than a dozen US defence companies have been characterised by Trump, with characteristic understatement, as 'the largest defence co-operation agreement' in history. But while the deal may well provide a boost to Trump's efforts to enrich Americans, it has come at a cost to the region's security. It appears that, in order to seal the deal, Trump has bowed to pressure from the Saudis and Turkey to lift all sanctions against the Islamist regime currently in power in Syria.
Wide-ranging Western sanctions have been imposed against Syria since the earliest days of the country's brutal civil war in 2011. The Assad regime oversaw the barbaric repression of the Syrian people, resulting in the deaths of around 500,000 Syrians and half the country's 23 million population forced to flee their homes.
The overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad at the end of last year by Islamist militants was supposed to herald a new era of peace and stability in the war-torn country under the leadership of the country's self-appointed leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Instead, Sharaa, who himself was placed under US sanctions for his close al-Qaeda associations during the civil war, has allowed the country to descend into another death spiral of factional violence. Minority groups such as the Alawites, Druze and Christians are all being subjected to acts of extreme violence.
In such circumstances, the issue of lifting sanctions should only be addressed once sufficient guarantees are in place to demonstrate that the new regime is committed to governing on behalf of all Syrians, and not just its Islamist supporters. Yet, just as Trump has been prepared to ditch Ukraine in his quest for a trade deal with the Kremlin, so he has shown an alarming willingness to let the new Syrian regime off the hook in pursuit of his multi-billion dollar Saudi deal.
After meeting Sharaa in Riyadh yesterday, Trump said his administration was looking to normalise ties with Damascus and that, by agreeing to lift sanctions, he had given the Islamist regime 'a chance for greatness'. The new Syrian regime has certainly done its best to reassure Trump of its good intentions. He has offered Washington access to Syria's modest oil reserves, provided reassurances about Israel's security and put forward a somewhat far-fetched proposition to build a Trump tower in central Damascus.
Sharaa, who previously spent five years in a US prison after leading al-Qaeda's murderous campaign against US forces in Iraq, has clearly mounted an impressive public relations campaign to persuade Trump of his good intentions. It is another matter entirely whether he and his fellow Islamist fanatics are capable of bringing a semblance of stability to Syria after 14 years of brutal conflict, especially as the new regime seems as committed to settling scores with rival factions as the previous Assad regime.
It was only in March that Washington was obliged to release a sharply-worded statement urging Damascus to protect minorities after attacks by pro-Assad forces sparked revenge killings of nearly 900 mostly Alawite civilians in north-west Syria. The new regime's decidedly Islamist agenda has caused alarm and consternation in Israel. This has led the Israelis to resist attempts by Damascus to deploy its forces further south, with Israeli war planes carrying out dozens of air strikes across the country in recent months to safeguard its own borders.
If Trump's decision to commence normalising ties with Syria is premature, it could be the harbinger of a far greater betrayal. Washington may abandon other long-established policy goals in the region, such as maintaining support for pro-Western Kurdish groups which played a vital role in defeating Islamic State terrorists during Syria's civil war.
The Kurds, who have established an autonomous zone in northern Syria, rely on the 3,000 US forces based in the region for their protection. But if Trump – as he attempted to do during his first presidential term – decides to withdraw US support, the Kurds will be left to the mercy of the Islamist regimes in Turkey and Syria, constituting yet another great betrayal by the Trump administration.