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.

Despite those efforts, experts warn that Trump’s push for stabilization is increasingly being challenged by the incorporation of jihadist-aligned figures into Syria’s emerging military and security apparatus.

“What my colleagues and I have been warning this entire year is that al-Sharaa was putting his jihadist allies into the new Syrian military without apparent measures to prevent bad things from happening,” said David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who added that those with jihadist beliefs were integrated in “large groups.”

Those concerns were underscored earlier this month, when two U.S. soldiers and one civilian contractor were killed in Syria in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) — the first U.S. casualties in the country since Assad’s fall in December 2024. Reports indicated the assailant was a lone gunman who had previously served in Syria’s Internal Security service and had extremist leanings.  

“The ISIS attack that killed U.S. service members and a civilian should be a wakeup call that the terrorist group is still a threat, and will seize opportunities to reconstitute,” said Dana Stroul, director of research at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “So far, the Trump team has tested al-Sharaa’s forces by asking them to go after ISIS threats and the record is fairly positive. But the ‘Defeat ISIS mission’ is not complete.”

While ISIS remains active in parts of Syria — particularly in the country’s northeast, where U.S. forces have long maintained a presence — some experts told Jewish Insider that jihadist figures aligned with al-Sharaa in the new Syrian military are the more immediate challenge to stabilization efforts.

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.”

“There have been deep feuds among jihadis, and al-Sharaa was on one side in a feud against the Islamic State,” said David Adesnik, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Al-Sharaa is also invested very heavily in a better relationship with the United States. The last thing he needs is a guy in his own ranks killing Americans and potentially throwing all of this off.”

In a Truth Social post, Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” to the attack, writing that the Syrian president “is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.” The U.S. conducted strikes on multiple ISIS targets in Syria last Friday.

Adesnik said Trump’s comments likely accurately “represent al-Sharaa’s views,” noting that ISIS has long been a rival to al-Sharaa within the jihadist ecosystem.

“There have been deep feuds among jihadis, and al-Sharaa was on one side in a feud against the Islamic State,” Adesnik said. “Al-Sharaa is also invested very heavily in a better relationship with the United States. The last thing he needs is a guy in his own ranks killing Americans and potentially throwing all of this off.”

Days after the attack, Trump signed an executive order barring Syrian nationals from entering the United States. The order “adds full restrictions and entry limitations” on Syria “based on recent analysis.”

Stroul said that while this is “not a significant change in U.S. policy toward Syria,” it will be “received poorly by Syrians.”

“On a positive note, the EO clearly acknowledged the work of the one-year-old government in Damascus to address its security challenges, in coordination with the U.S.,” said Stroul. “This suggests that once the U.S. has confidence in the security procedures of Damascus, it could reverse this decision.”

But signs of ideological extremism within Syria’s new military have continued to surface. Shortly before the attack, video surfaced of what appeared to be a group of Syrian army soldiers chanting a jihadist declaration of war against Israel during a military parade in Damascus.

“It should have been obvious quite a while back that there were large groups within the Syrian military that had precisely this belief,” Adesnik said. “It goes back to the fact that [Syria’s new leadership] has integrated a large number of al-Sharaa’s jihadi forces, or aligned jihadi forces, into the military. Being deeply anti-Israel to the point of supporting Hamas is sort of par for the course if you’re a jihadist.”

Adesnik added that such views are consistent with al-Sharaa’s past rhetoric on Israel. Pro-Israel critics of al-Sharaa have pointed to the Syrian leader’s past ties to Al-Qaida, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and group he joined following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. While operating for the group as a foot soldier, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned. He later founded one of the terror group’s Syrian branches.

U.S. officials have played down concerns about Syrian intentions toward Israel. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, told reporters last week that Damascus is not interested in aggression against the Jewish state. But Israeli officials have taken a more pessimistic view, with Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli writing on X that war with Syria is “inevitable.”

“The SDF have been America’s most reliable and effective partner in fighting ISIS for more than a decade,” John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, 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.”

The White House has aimed to broker a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, in which the Jewish state would relinquish territory it holds within Syria. However, Israel has differed on this approach due to security concerns and a deep distrust of the leadership in Damascus. The two sides reportedly remain far apart on any potential agreement. 

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.”

Adesnik echoed that view, calling SDF integration “definitely a good idea,” while cautioning that progress is likely to be slow.

“There was an interim agreement in March, but the odds of that happening in the next few weeks are very low,” Adesnik said. “As long as it doesn’t go completely off the rails, they’ll probably kick the can down the road.”

Despite the challenges to stabilization, Stroul said that U.S. policy toward Syria will likely “remain consistent,” and that she expects the Trump administration to continue embracing the new government in Damascus and al-Sharaa’s leadership. 

“President Trump is about to sign into law the bipartisan NDAA which lifts the sweeping Caesar sanctions against Syria — this was requested by the Trump team and the al-Sharaa government to Congress,” said Stroul. “This is a critical step in sanctions relief that will allow foreign investment to flow into Syria without fear of U.S. punitive action, and is a major signal of support for the post-Assad Syria.”

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel had agreed to sign onto the White House’s 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza, with Trump calling the development “one of the great days ever in civilization.” 

Both leaders described the deal, which would release all of the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for an immediate end of the war, as the starting point for greater regional integration, a goal that Trump described as “eternal peace in the Middle East.” 

Senior Trump administration officials first introduced the plan last week in a meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders in New York, and Trump said he had buy-in from the Qataris, who have been a go-between in negotiations with Israel and Hamas, and that he had discussed the matter with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. 

But the deal is not yet final: Hamas has not yet agreed to it, though Trump expressed hope that the terror group will do so. Trump said he would allow Netanyahu to continue the war with his “full backing” if Hamas does not agree to it. 

“This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it has to be done,” Netanyahu said at the press conference. “All these goals must be achieved because we didn’t fight this horrible fight, sacrifice the finest of our young men, for Hamas to stay in Gaza.”

The plan would require the release of all the hostages still held by Hamas back to Israel within 72 hours, and an immediate end to the war, according to a copy of the plan published by the White House. In exchange, Israel would release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli jails, along with nearly 2,000 Gazans detained since the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023.

The first principle of the plan is that Gaza would be deradicalized, with Hamas out of power and transitional mechanisms in place to take over governance of the beleaguered territory. Amnesty would be offered to Hamas members “who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons” once the hostages are returned. Hamas members who wish to leave would have safe passage to do so, although the plan does not explicitly state that they will be required to leave. The plan would also surge aid to Gaza through the United Nations and other international mechanisms as soon as the hostages are released.

An international transitional body, with Trump as chair and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair heavily involved, would oversee the redevelopment of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has been reformed and is able to take over leadership of the Gaza Strip. The U.S. and other Arab and international partners would develop a temporary stabilization force to deploy in Gaza, and Trump would oversee the creation of an economic development plan to facilitate investments in the seaside territory. 

“I believe that today we are taking a critical step towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East, and I think beyond the Middle East, with very important Muslim countries,” Netanyahu said. “We’re giving everybody a chance to have this done peacefully, something that will achieve all our war objectives without any further bloodshed.” 

Several Muslim leaders announced their support for the deal, including the prime minister of Pakistan and the Emirati foreign minister. 

As Trump and Netanyahu stood side by side, each heaping praise upon the other, they were not entirely on the same page about all aspects of the deal — in particular the role of the Palestinian Authority in the future governance of Gaza, which Netanyahu has all but written off, despite that goal listed as an objective in the White House’s plan. 

“Gaza will have a peaceful civilian administration that is run neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said, a contrast to the plan’s language that the PA — once it is reformed, an objective that could take years — will control Gaza. 

The White House deal also recognizes “Palestinian self-determination and statehood” as “the aspiration of the Palestinian people.” Netanyahu, however, has said repeatedly that a Palestinian state is out of the question. 

Trump did not refer to the plan’s language about Palestinian statehood in his remarks, instead offering leeway to Netanyahu. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is very clear about his opposition to a Palestinian state,” Trump said. “Several countries have foolishly recognized the Palestinian state.” 

The leaders’ comments followed a three-hour meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. During the meeting, Trump orchestrated a phone call between Netanyahu and the Qatari emir, which Trump said afterward was a “a heart-to-heart conversation” in which Netanyahu apologized for Israel’s attack on Doha last month that targeted Hamas leaders and killed a Qatari security guard. The three nations agreed to launch a “formal trilateral mechanism” to “enhance mutual security, correct misperceptions and avoid future misgivings.” 

The full text of the plan says that even if Hamas rejects the plan, the scaled-up humanitarian aid operation will continue, and terror-free areas will be handed over from the Israel Defense Forces to the international stabilization force. But Trump said that Israel will have the “full backing” of the U.S. to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not accept the plan. 

“If Hamas rejects the deal — which is always possible, they’re the only one left. Everyone else has accepted it. But I have a feeling that we’re going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, Bibi, you’d have our full backing,” said Trump.