Trump administration moves toward reopening US Embassy in Damascus

The administration of US President Donald Trump has formally notified Congress of its intention to begin planning for a possible reopening of the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which has remained closed since 2012 following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.

According to a notification sent to congressional committees earlier this month and obtained by The Associated Press, the State Department plans to pursue a “phased approach” aimed at potentially restoring embassy operations in the Syrian capital.

The Feb. 10 notice stated that funding for the planning process would begin within 15 days — effectively starting the following week — although officials did not provide a timeline for completing preparations or for the full-time return of US diplomatic personnel to Damascus.

Washington has been weighing the embassy’s reopening since late 2024, shortly after longtime Syrian leader Bashar Assad was removed from power in December of that year. The initiative has been strongly backed by Tom Barrack, President Trump’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who has made normalisation with Damascus a central priority.

Barrack has advocated for broad rapprochement with Syria’s new leadership under former rebel figure Ahmad al-Sharaa. He has also played a key role in pushing for the lifting of US sanctions and Syria’s reintegration into regional and international political frameworks.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump praised al-Sharaa’s leadership, saying he was “doing a phenomenal job” as president. “He’s a rough guy. He’s not a choir boy. A choir boy couldn’t do it,” Trump said, adding that “Syria’s coming together.”

In May, Barrack visited Damascus and symbolically raised the US flag at the embassy compound, although the diplomatic mission itself was not formally reopened at that time.

On the same day the congressional notification was issued, Barrack also welcomed Syria’s participation in the coalition fighting the Islamic State militant group, describing it as an important step toward regional cooperation. His remarks came even as the US military withdrew from a small but strategically significant base in southeastern Syria, and despite ongoing tensions between Damascus and the country’s Kurdish minority.

“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-ISIS Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Barrack said.

Details of the embassy reopening plan remain classified, and the State Department declined to comment beyond confirming that Congress had been notified.

Officials noted, however, that the department is considering a model similar to its phased effort to restore diplomatic operations in Caracas, Venezuela, following the US military operation that removed former President Nicolás Maduro in January. That approach involves deploying temporary diplomatic staff who would live and work in interim facilities before a full reopening.

By Tamilla Hasanova