From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 29, 2025
Concluding initial presser, Trump says Netanyahu ‘is going to get along with Syria,’ calls Sharaa a ‘tough cookie’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Asked whether he’ll be urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign an agreement with Syria, US President Donald Trump says he hopes the Israeli premier will “get along” with Damascus.
“I hope he’s going to get along with Syria because the new president of Syria is working very hard to do a good job,” Trump says of Ahmed al-Sharaa. “He’s a tough cookie. You’re not going to get a choir boy to lead Syria.
“I dropped the sanctions on Syria because otherwise they wouldn’t have had a chance. We want to see Syria survive. We’re going to be talking about Syria too,” Trump adds.
With that, Trump and Netanyahu head inside Mar-a-Lago for their meeting after taking over 15 minutes of questions from reporters outside the entrance of the compound.
The Times of Israel Community.