Syria seeks US investment amid reports of talks with Israel

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is trying to persuade US President Donald Trump’s administration to lift economic sanctions on his country, offering significant concessions including the arrest of Palestinian leaders, reassurances that he will avoid conflict with Israel, and potential US investment in Syria’s oil and gas sector, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

It comes amid reports of talks between Sharaa’s new government and Israel, facilitated by the UAE, while Israel continues airstrikes on Syria and incursions in the southwest of the country.

The US had previously demanded that Sharaa arrest Palestinian fighters based in Syria in exchange for easing sanctions.

Sharaa’s government responded by arresting two leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement last month, as well as a leader from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which was considered close to the former regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

WSJ reported that Sharaa wanted to meet with US President Donald Trump to get him to sign up to a plan for Marshall Plan style reconstruction of Syria, in which US and other Western companies would be involved, rather than those from China and other world powers.

Syria is still under US sanctions imposed under the Assad regime and this has prevented investment and trade from other countries as well as the US.

“The Syrians are trying. They are not oblivious to the fact that absent concrete US moves, that no one else is going to be encouraged to invest. The economy is slowly crashing,” Darren Khalifa, an advisor from the International Crisis Group told WSJ.

Recently, Jonathan Bass, a Republican activist close to Trump who heads Argent LNG natural gas company, visited Damascus and presented Sharaa with a plan for Western firms to develop Syria’s gas resources.

“We have an opportunity to push the Russians, the Iranians and the Chinese out of the country forever alongside an enduring defeat of ISIS,” he said after meeting Sharaa.

Direct Israel talks?

The reports of Syrian overtures to the US came amid news this week that the UAE was facilitating “indirect” talks between Syria and Israel.

While the UAE has denied this, Sharaa confirmed on a visit to Paris that the talks were underway, mediated through a “third country” which he did not name.

The Israeli news site Ynet said on Friday that direct talks had taken place at a house in Abu Dhabi, involving three aides to Sharaa and two Israeli academics who had a past in the security establishment.

It said that the Syrians asked for an end to ongoing Israeli strikes on Syria, while the Israelis sought reassurances regarding Syria’s Druze community.

Sectarian clashes between pro-government militiamen and Druze fighters resulted in the deaths of scores of people in Syria last week. Israel has tried to position itself as a “protector” of the Druze, even though most Syrian Druze have rejected this.

Ynet claimed that the Syrian and Israeli representatives were seated at the same table, surrounded by refreshments, in an effort to create a “relaxed atmosphere”.

However, Israel has continued strikes and incursions into Syrian territory, on Saturday storming a village and detaining a man and a boy.