Former U.S. deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland said Tuesday on Newsmax that key Middle East leaders have encouraged President Donald Trump to take a "calculated risk" on Syria's interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, arguing the move could reshape regional security.
McFarland told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" that leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states have urged the president to support al-Sharaa. McFarland said those leaders believe al-Sharaa could pivot Damascus away from Iran and Russia and toward regional stability.
"You know, here's the thing," McFarland said. "When President Trump went to the Middle East, his first foreign trip in the second term, he went to the Saudis, he went to UAE, and he talked to them, and they convinced him. They said, 'Look, take a chance on this guy. You took a chance on us eight years ago. The younger leaders, who are now heavily, you know, in power in all their countries, they've gone to the Abraham Accords.'"
"They've gone to modernizing their economy, opening their society. And they said, 'Give this guy a chance, give this guy a chance, because we think we've met him. We think that he could flip Syria, so to speak, that he won't let the Russians in. He won't let Iran in. And he wants to build a new Syria.'"
That advocacy, McFarland said, persuaded Trump to sign an executive order on Monday lifting many U.S. economic sanctions on Syria — fulfilling a promise to al-Sharaa — designed to "promote and support the country's path to stability and peace," according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The order, McFarland noted, "ends the country's isolation from the international financial system, setting the stage for global commerce and galvanizing investments from its neighbors in the region, as well as from the United States," Treasury Department acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brad Smith told reporters.
McFarland acknowledged the controversy surrounding al-Sharaa's background being connected to al-Qaida but argued that Gulf state confidence in al-Sharaa reflects a strategic calculation. "President Trump is taking a risk, but it's a calculated risk. And I think it's a very good risk," she said.
She pointed to Syria's pivotal role in regional security: "Syria was always a transshipment point for Iranian weapons. Syria is key to Israel's security. And Syria has always been the tough nut to crack." McFarland recalled her own experience as a National Security Council aide during Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy in 1973 and 1974."
"The hardest country in the region to get to agree to a cease-fire with Israel was Syria," she said.
"In a certain sense," McFarland added, "if President Trump can take Syria off the board and flip them to our side, I think it is a huge win for the region, for Israel, frankly, for the world."
Gulf leaders believe the gamble is worthwhile. McFarland quoted them as saying: "'We think he could flip Syria. He won't let the Russians in. He won't let Iran in. And he wants to build a new Syria.'"
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.