Syria's new president has won over Trump but his chequered past is still causing concern

Sky News

23-07-2025

It is no secret that Donald Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. But the very man who could help him achieve this is also the man keeping the trophy at bay.
The Israeli prime minister nominated Trump for the prize during a recent trip to Washington but Netanyahu's actions in Syria and Gaza over the past few weeks prompted yet another call from the president telling him to rein it in.
But why this time? Firstly, because of Syria.
Tribal fighting between the Druze minority community and Bedouins in the southern city of Sweida has seen over 1,000 dead and many more injured.
Netanyahu has declared himself protector of the Druze across the region, partly because a large portion of that community live in the occupied Golan Heights and are loyal to him. The Druze also serve in the IDF.
So, when a Druze leader asked him to help, he did. In an extraordinary way.
Not only did he bomb the city of Sweida, but he launched a strike on military headquarters in the capital Damascus, a stone's throw away from the Presidential Palace.
Groups flocked to Sweida to help fight against the tribe who called on Israel's aid, further fanning the flames of violence.
A shaky ceasefire is now in place - brokered by the US which, for now, is standing firm behind Syria's new President Ahmed al Sharaa.
It is firmly in the US's interests for Sharaa's vision of Syria to work. A reformed jihadist who cut his teeth in ISIS and al Qaeda is now calling for an equal and open Syria.
His chequered past makes him an unlikely ally of President Trump. A man who once was in a group that chanted "death to America" now shakes the hand of the leader of the same country.
It is also no secret that Trump respects Sharaa, calling him an "attractive, tough guy".
But Trump has plans for the region that require a lasting peace in Syria. And right now, Sharaa is the only person promising to deliver this.
Hungry for an expansion of the Abraham Accords and normalisation between Syria and Israel, Trump lifted sanctions and welcomed Sharaa to the world stage.
But Israel and the Emiratis remain suspicious of the new president and are deeply sceptical of his promise of reformed jihadism.
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Netanyahu's strikes were a warning as much as anything.
Arab officials tell me that Sharaa can't even use the toilet without telling the Turks, but the Israelis have made it clear he will also have to watch his back.
Trump was reportedly deeply angry at Israel's strike on the only Catholic Church in Gaza. The IDF said it was "unintentional" but the incident warranted a call from the president which led to a rare public statement from Netanyahu on the "tragic incident".
Add to this the brutal murder of the Palestinian-American Saifullah Kamel Musallet in the West Bank by Israeli settlers, and an increase in violence against the Christian community in general, and you have all the elements in place to warrant criticism from a usually staunch ally: the evangelical MAGA base.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called an arson attack on a Christian church in the West Bank "terrorism" in a recent trip to the village where the settler attack happened.
This is a man who once said there is "no such thing" as the West Bank, calling it Judea and Samaria - a biblical term used by the right in Israel and America.
"There's no such thing as a settlement," he continued. "They're communities, they're neighbourhoods, they're cities. There's no such thing as an occupation."
Add to that Trump's original pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, who called into question Israel's investigation into what he called the "pattern of Israeli settler attacks", and MAGA diehard Marjorie Taylor Greene who proposed a slashing of America's funding to Israel by $500m.
These are some of Trump's most loyal of followers now voicing a once rare criticism of Israel.
Again, this will be frustrating to Trump - who as quickly as he tapes up one fissure within his base, sees another starting to tear.