The Stars and Stripes were flown above Damascus, Syria, on Thursday for the first time since 2012.
In a ceremony attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack raised the U.S. flag above the U.S. ambassador’s residence in the capital. The symbolic raising was the first time the U.S. flag had flown above Damascus since Washington shut down its embassy in 2012 in response to violence that eventually killed over 650,000 people.
The raising of the flag alongside Syrian officials came after President Donald Trump moved to warm relations with the teetering government by removing sanctions. It was greeted with applause from those gathered.
The U.S. Embassy remains closed, but the reopening of the ambassador’s residence signals it will likely follow soon.
Trump appointed Barrack as special envoy to Syria on Thursday, saying the move would help secure peace in the region.
“I am pleased to announce that our United States Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, will be serving as our Envoy to Syria. Tom understands there is great potential in working with Syria to stop Radicalism, improve Relations, and secure Peace in the Middle East. Together, we will Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Trump said in a Truth Social post, reposted by the State Department.
“Grateful to President Trump for your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination,” Barrack said in a post on X shortly after his new appointment.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated on the Trump administration’s sudden decision to lift sanctions on the new Syrian government, which is run by Ahmed al Sharaa, the former head of Syria’s al Qaeda affiliate who was first sent to Syria by Islamic State head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi to lead the group in the country during the civil war.
Rubio admitted the move was a gamble but said it was worth it as the country could be just weeks away from a full collapse and descent into civil war.
RUBIO: SYRIAN TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT COULD COLLAPSE WITHOUT US ENGAGEMENT
“If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out,” he said. “If we did not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out. In fact, it is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically, the country splitting up.”
The U.S. Embassy in Syria was closed in February 2012 in response to a “surge in violence,” raising serious concerns that “our embassy is not sufficiently protected from armed attack,” then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at the time. When it closed, it was operated by a skeleton crew.
