On Thursday, Reuters reported that the “United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel.”
The report was based on six sources familiar with the matter.
This is an important development and comes on the eve of Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington.
Sharaa has helped guide his country throughout the last year after the Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024. He has largely succeeded in bringing Syria back into relations with the West and other countries in the international community.
He has also had to balance the interests of various countries. For instance, he has worked with Turkey, which backed some Syrian rebel groups and hosted millions of Syrians.
A US force in or near Damascus at a strategic site such as an airport could be just what Syria needs at the moment. The US already has forces in eastern Syria, where it backs the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main group that defeated ISIS.
It also has a garrison in southern Syria near Jordan called the Tanf garrison. This backed a small Syrian Arab rebel group, which is now part of Syria’s new army Division 70.
The US thus has troops with experience in Syria. US Central Command head Admiral Brad Cooper has also visited Damascus at least twice in the last six months.
His visit has helped shed light on how the US could play a role in Syria and also spotlights how the SDF could integrate into the new Syrian security forces.
This is important for Israel as well. Israel opposed Iran’s role in Syria during the Assad regime, as Tehran backed Syrian militias that are hostile to Israel.
Tehran also trafficked weapons to Hezbollah. Airbases were key to the Iranian role. For instance, Iran used the T-4 base near Palmyra to move an air defense system to Syria in 2018. The system was destroyed in an airstrike, according to Ynet.
Iran left Syria when the Assad regime fell. Thus ended the Israeli “war between the wars,” or what was abbreviated as “Mabam” in Hebrew, the precision airstrike campaign directed at Iranian entrenchment in Syria.
The campaign had involved thousands of airstrikes, according to a New York Times article in 2001. As such, Israel was very focused on possible threats in Syria over the last decade.
Iran and Hezbollah even collaborated near the Golan; in 2019, the terror organization moved drones to cells near the northern region. This illustrates how a weak Syria can become a threat.
When the Assad regime fell, some people in Israel suggested that the Jewish state take a more aggressive approach in Syria. Having beaten Hezbollah in November 2024, there was an opportunity to expand into Syria.
Israel seized the peak of the Hermon and also took areas along the Golan ceasefire line that dates from 1974. Israeli officials called for southern Syria to be demilitarized.
The Jewish state also launched airstrikes on the new Sharaa government, warning it not to harm Druze in Sweida in southern Syria. This set Israel on a collision course with the new government.
As Washington embraced Sharaa, particularly after US President Donald Trump met with the Syrian leader in Saudi Arabia, Israel’s policy became more controversial.
Will Israel climb down from its tree of tensions?
Now the talk of a US role in or near Damascus could help Israel climb down from this tree of tensions with Syria. It is in Israel’s interests to have southern Syria stable rather than a power vacuum where Iran and others might exploit the situation.
Israel also can’t effectively defend the Druze via airstrikes. A clearer, more wholesome policy of engagement is needed. A US role could calm everyone down and help ease Syria and Israel into a new era. This is in Israel’s best interests.
It would allow a way out from the complexity and mission creep that Israel almost engaged in regarding attempts to support the Druze. It is not that these attempts were wrong, but they lacked a clear strategy and risked biting off more than Israel could chew.
They also risked raising expectations in Sweida. Instead, it’s better to lower expectations and end up with some kind of peace deal.
Trump has pushed for peace all around the world and successfully helped Israel reduce tensions in Gaza. This could hand Israel and the US another opportunity and also help Damascus get more wins in Washington.
Damascus wants sanctions removed. It also wants the US to prod the SDF to integrate. Much is on the line, and a new type of US presence that grows outside of eastern Syria or Tanf could be just what Syria needs now.
It would also help counter any bad actors who might want to increase influence in Syria at the expense of the US, the West, or Israel.