Trump’s Syria Strategy Tested Amid Resurgence of ISIS in Damascus

Following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, President Donald Trump has taken an unusually open approach toward Damascus, seeking to usher in a new era of stability and regional integration. But that strategy is beginning to face significant tests from jihadist elements embedded within Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s own military ranks.

In his second term, Trump has made unprecedented moves to normalize relations with Damascus and promote a new political order in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime last year. During a Middle East visit in May, Trump became the first American president in 25 years to meet with a Syrian leader and announced the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria that had been in place for more than a decade. On Nov. 10, Trump hosted al-Sharaa at the White House in a historic visit, during which Syria formally joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition. The administration has also sought to broker a security agreement between Syria and Israel.

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John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said al-Sharaa’s decision to formally align with the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition has not only provoked ISIS, but also energized jihadist elements within Syria’s ranks.

“ISIS has been relatively quiet since the collapse of the Assad regime. That’s clearly changed over the past couple of months,” Hannah said. “That decision to sign on with a posse led by the Americans against fellow Muslims served as a major provocation — not just to ISIS, but to the broader jihadist community, including fighters now inside Syria’s new formal security structures.”

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The U.S. currently maintains roughly 1,000 troops in Syria, supported by U.S. air power, and continues to work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a longtime American partner that has played a central role in combating ISIS. Hannah argued that integrating the SDF into Syria’s new security structures could help counteract jihadist and ISIS influence in the country.

“The SDF have been America’s most reliable and effective partner in fighting ISIS for more than a decade,” Hannah said. “The logic of incorporating those SDF units wholesale into al-Sharaa’s army and then unleashing them with U.S. backing on the ungoverned spaces of Syria’s central desert where ISIS has found real sanctuary is compelling.”

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