Enab Baladi – Mowaffak al-Khouja
The indications that suggest Syria’s involvement in negotiations with Arab countries regarding joining what is known as the “Abraham Accords” are increasing, following public statements from American officials and media reports about negotiation tracks between Damascus and Tel Aviv.
To engage in this pathway, certain steps and conditions are required from Syria and the Arab nations seeking to join these agreements prior to signing.
Hints and statements
The latest development in this context, at the time of reporting, was what US President Donald Trump hinted at aboard his plane heading to Qatar from Saudi Arabia, after his historic decision to lift sanctions on Syria and his meeting with transitional Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Trump stated that Syria will ultimately join the Abraham Accords, which was one of the main directives he discussed with the Syrian counterpart during their meeting, pointing out that the latter showed initial approval.
Trump linked Syria’s entry into the agreements to the stabilization of the situation in the country and organizing domestic affairs, according to reports from American media, including “CNN.”
“I think they (the Syrians) need to fix their situation first,” I told al-Sharaa. “I hope you will join when things stabilize,” al-Sharaa responded, saying, “Yes, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
US President Donald Trump
During the meeting of the two presidents in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, White House assistant and press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated via “X” that Trump encouraged his counterpart al-Sharaa on five key issues, including signing the Abraham Accords with Israel.
What are the Abraham Accords?
The term Abraham/Ibrahim refers to promoting the values of tolerance, dialogue, and coexistence among different peoples and religions in the Middle East and the world, serving the enhancement of a culture of peace, according to the texts of the agreements with Arab countries.
The term was first used during the normalization agreement signing between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel under American sponsorship and is attributed to the prophet Abraham, symbolizing the commonality of the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
The Abraham Accords were first signed between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain in the White House on September 15, 2020, in the presence of former US President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani.
On October 23, 2020, Trump announced Sudan’s normalization of relations with Israel through a US-Israeli-Sudanese trilateral statement.
On December 10, 2020, Trump announced a peace agreement between Morocco and Israel.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel, following the Camp David Accords in 1979, followed by Jordan with the Wadi Araba Agreement in 1994.
Within the Saudi Initiative
Researcher at the Jusoor for Studies Center Wael Alwan noted that the agreements being discussed are an American project aimed at concluding the Palestinian-Arab conflict with Israel.
This project is being reintroduced today with the evolution of relations between the United States and the Syrian government; it is sponsored by Trump, who seeks to involve Arab countries in it.
Alwan believes that certain issues will need to be discussed before Syria engages in the Abraham Accords.
He explained that the most critical issues to be addressed include Israel retracting from the territories it occupied and completely halting its “aggressions,” as well as revisiting or discussing the disengagement agreement and ceasefire.
After these steps, Alwan predicts that the Syrian government will be part of the initiative led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding any relations with Israel.
In Trump’s effort to include Arab countries in the Abraham Accords, he is trying to convince Saudi Arabia to join the normalizing countries, though Riyadh has maintained its position that any normalization is contingent upon achieving a “just and comprehensive” solution to the Palestinian issue, as stipulated by the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002.
The initiative calls for establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel.
To accelerate the pathway
Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Aaron Zelin, outlined necessary steps for Washington to take in order to expedite the Syrian-Israeli normalization process.
Zelin stated in an analytical article that Washington should either facilitate a new round of negotiations between Israel and Syria or support the ongoing mediation process currently led by the UAE.
Reuters and Yedioth Ahronoth reported on meetings between Syrian officials and Israeli counterparts at the same table, under Emirati sponsorship in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Zelin believes that new talks could help define the conditions or provide security guarantees regarding Israel’s potential withdrawal from the territories it controlled after the downfall of the previous regime in December 2024.
This could pave the way for a disengagement agreement and discussions regarding Syria’s eventual joining of the Abraham Accords, according to Zelin.
On the other hand, the American researcher mentioned that Washington should also urge Damascus to officially acknowledge that the Shebaa Farms area belongs to Syria and not Lebanon.
He noted that the deposed Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, affirmed this point during negotiations in the mid-2000s.
He indicated that the new government in Damascus should make this an official policy within the framework of border demarcation talks with Beirut, especially as this issue has become “urgent” again amid attempts by the new Lebanese government to undermine Hezbollah and its cross-border networks involved in smuggling.
Not new
The discussion regarding Syria’s normalization with Israel post-regime collapse is not new, despite Israeli strikes and mistrust messages toward the new authorities in Damascus.
In the first meeting of American diplomats with the new administration after the regime’s collapse, Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in the Biden administration, stated on January 16, that a peace agreement between Israel and Syria is expected in the coming years.
On February 25, the US President’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, noted during an event for the Jewish community in Washington that there is potential for Syria and Lebanon to normalize relations with Israel.
Witkoff based his prediction on the significant blows suffered by Iranian-backed forces, referencing the Lebanese Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime.
After their visit to Damascus and their meeting with al-Sharaa, US Congress Members Marlin Stutzman and Cory Mills declared that the Syrian president is open to a relationship with Israel under the Abraham Accords.
Steps in Syria’s path to joining the Abraham Accords Enab Baladi.
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