US envoy appears to knock Israeli policy in Syria, while insisting that normalization possible

US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack appears to knock Israel’s policy in Syria while praising the new Syrian regime’s conciliatory approach toward Israel, predicting that the two countries will soon agree to normalize relations.

Barrack points out that Syria hasn’t fired a shot at Israel since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime at the end of 2025. Nonetheless, Israel immediately invaded southern Syria and established a buffer zone, defending the move as necessary to protect Israeli cities from rogue militant actors.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “has said time and time again that there are no issues with Israel. ‘We don’t want an adversarial issue with Israel. We don’t want to be at war with Israel. We want to work towards a non-aggression agreement and a normalization,'” Barrack says during a live interview at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

“Israel has taken the point of view of taken that the Druze in southern Syria are actually cousins of (the Druze in) Israel,” Barrack says, recalling the IDF’s decision to invade Syria to try and defend the Druze population who underwent atrocities at the hands of regime-linked Islamist forces.

“The Sweida incidents, which were very, very difficult at the beginning of the al-Sharaa regime, led the Israelis to come across the border to protect their newfound Israeli cousins who were Druze,” he recalls.

Explaining Israel’s rationale, Barrack says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer cares about borders when taking steps he believes are necessary to protect Israel after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Despite Israel’s aggressive actions in Syria, Barrack says the Sharaa government “was brilliant and not engaging in that fight.”

“The incursions are constant. Israel is coming across those lines every time they see a convoy because there’s still no trust between the two entities as to [whether Israel can] rely on the Syrian military establishment… to actually create a calm barrier,” Barrack says.

“In our opinion, Syria has been brilliant at not engaging adversarially against Israel.”They have time and time again said, ‘We’re available to talk,'” he continues, recalling the five rounds of talks he brokered between Syrian Foreign Minister Shobani and then-Israeli minister Ron Dermer.

“We got very close. It evaporated,” Barrack says of talks toward a non-aggression agreement between Israel and Syria.

“We’re dealing with five countries on five borders, two seas and in the midst we have a war, so it’s a time-out from these conversations,” he admits.

“We’ll get there. My bet is we’ll get to a non-aggression and normalization agreement with Syria sooner than Lebanon,” Barrack predicts.