With the overthrow of former President Bashar Assad and with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria has the opportunity to join the Abraham Accords, David Friedman, former U.S. ambassador to Israel told Newsmax Wednesday.
"We don't know how this guy is going to turn out in Syria," Friedman told "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
Friedman said Syria's interim president "certainly has a checkered background."
"But by the same token, Syria has been an absolute disaster for as long as I've been alive. And we have a circumstance where we have a new leader," he said. "It's not Bashar Assad. It's not somebody who's gassed his own people. It's somebody who is looking to lead and find a way to do that."
"And I think he recognizes the fact that to have the support of the United States is critical. And, you know, the first thing the president said to him is, You should join the Abraham Accords," Friedman said.
The path of al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, to becoming Syria's president has been a winding one. Before becoming Syria's president, al-Sharaa was the leader of the U.S.-designated terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, which overthrew Assad's government in December. Shortly after Assad was overthrown, the U.S. dropped its $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa.
Friedman went on to say of Syria that if there's a way to make it "less lethal," then Trump "should go for it." The country has been in a "state of war with Israel since 1948," he said.
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