Syrias new leader open to joining Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel, US reps who met him say

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has privately expressed openness to joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel in a move that would dramatically shake up the Middle East, according to two congressmen who met with him last month.In exchange, al-Sharaa wanted assurances that Israel would stop bombing Syria, stop fomenting sectarian divisions and reach a renegotiated arrangement regarding the Golan Heights, Reps.

Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Martin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Post.“He said, ‘We’re open to not only recognizing Israel, but also to try and join the Abraham Accords, but they must stop bombing within our nation,'” Mills recounted.

Trump made waves last week during his Mideast trek when, after meeting with the Syrian leader, he boldly predicted that the “young, attractive” al-Sharaa would join the Abraham Accords, a signature foreign policy breakthrough of his first term, which saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize relations with Israel.Prior to that prediction, al-Sharaa conveyed his openness to the Abraham Accords to both Mills and Stutzman during separate one-on-ones with the two reps, who were the first sitting members of Congress to visit Syria’s new leader since the abrupt collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December.Stutzman claimed that al-Sharaa told him “he would be open to the Abraham Accords” on two major conditions.“[For] the first one was, he said that Israel had a plan to divide the country up into separate parts.

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what he told me, and he said that that would be a deal breaker,” Stutzman explained.“He wants to keep Syria unified…any effort to divide the country into regional parts or sectarian parts was not acceptable.”“The second one was the Golan Heights, and the encroachment around the Golan Heights — that they would have to negotiate with Israel further on that.”The Syrian leader didn’t specify whether joining the...