- Meeting focuses on enhancement of cooperation to advance mutual interests and strengthen security and stability in the Middle East
- The US is not withdrawing from the region, says presidential envoy Tom Barrack, but he urges nations to take greater responsibility for their own security
Updated 21 October 2026 17:39
LONDON: Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the interim president of the Syrian Arab Republic, discussed the country’s latest development efforts with Tom Barrack, the US special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, in Damascus on Wednesday.
Their talks focused on the enhancement of cooperation to advance the interests of both nations and strengthen security and stability, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported. Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani also attended the meeting at the People’s Palace.
On Tuesday, Barrack affirmed that the US was not withdrawing from the Middle East but called on countries in the region to take greater responsibility for their own security.
“The bargain is not to own, not to control, but to tend, not to leave. We’re not leaving,” he said at the Global Security Forum in Doha. The US has shifted its approach in the region, he added, by reducing its direct involvement in regional conflicts while maintaining partnerships with allies.
In April, the US military completed the handover to Syrian authorities of full control of all military bases in the country that had been hosting American troops deployed in the country for about a decade while leading an international coalition against Daesh.