US flag hoisted in Damascus as envoy suggests Syria-Israel 'agreement'

U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack on Thursday called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel as a first step towards building relations between the two countries.

Speaking to Saudi channel Al Arabiya in Damascus, Barrack described the long-standing conflict between Syria and Israel, who have technically been at war since 1948, as a "solvable problem" through dialogue, proposing a "non-aggression agreement" between them.

Barrack's comments came as the U.S. flag was hoisted Thursday outside of the long-shuttered ambassador's residence in Damascus, in a signing of growing ties between Washington and the new Syrian government.

U.S. ambassador to Turkey Barrack, who has also been appointed special envoy to Syria, arrived Thursday to inaugurate the residence, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported.

Washington hasn't formally reopened its embassy in Damascus, which closed in 2012 after protests against the government of then President Bashar Assad, met by a brutal crackdown, spiraled into civil war. Assad was unseated in December in a lightning rebel offensive.

But Barrack's visit and the raising of the flag were a significant signal of warming relations.

Washington was initially circumspect about Syria's new leaders, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former leader of an Islamist insurgent group that the U.S. still lists as a terrorist organization. However, the Trump administration — encouraged by two U.S. allies in the region, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — has in recent weeks shown increasing openness to Damascus.

Trump held a surprise meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh earlier this month, and the U.S. has begun to roll back decades of sanctions slapped on Syria under the Assad dynasty.