The White House expressed on Thursday its expectation that Syria, under the new regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, will soon join the Abraham Accords, according to spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
"The president certainly hopes that more countries in the region will sign the Abraham Accords," Leavitt stated in remarks to the press.
The official revealed that, during the recent meeting between Donald Trump and the new interim Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, one of the main requests from the U.S. president was precisely for Syria to join the historic agreement to normalize relations with Israel.
Donald Trump y Ahmed al-Sharaa.
"We want to see lasting and enduring peace in the Middle East, and that is the way to achieve it," she added. Although she did not offer a specific timeline, Leavitt emphasized that the Trump administration aims to move forward with this process, and she assured: "This administration wants that to happen, and our partners in the region need to know it."
The Abraham Accords marked a diplomatic milestone in the Middle East during President Donald Trump's first term in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.
This Wednesday, in an interview with CNBC, the Trump administration's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, indicated that significant progress could be made in expanding the agreement.
There will be "major announcements about the countries that will join the Abraham Accords," Witkoff anticipated, and added: "One of the president's key objectives is to expand the Abraham Accords," he stated.
Donald Trump y Ahmed al-Sharaa.
He also expressed his optimism regarding what lies ahead: "We expect normalization in a number of countries that people never would have imagined, so we're excited about that prospect; it will also serve as a stabilizer in the Middle East," he concluded.
Syria during the attack on Iran
In April, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated that Syria would be willing to join the Abraham Accords, provided that certain favorable conditions were met.
Additionally, during Israel's military operations against Iran, al-Sharaa chose to not intervene and allowed the Israeli Air Force to operate in Syrian airspace, a decision that, according to Professor Amatzia Baram of the University of Haifa, is due to multiple factors. The most relevant is that these attacks ultimately benefited his newly established regime.
During the 12 days of the Israeli air incursion over Iranian territory, the planes crossed Syrian skies without facing resistance.
According to Baram, the conclusions that the new Syrian leader may have drawn from that experience could play a key role in stabilizing Israel's northern border in the coming years.
