WEEKLY UPDATE - 05.16.2025

President Trump Meets with Syrian President; Announces End to Sanctions

US President Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday. The meeting marked the first time in more than two decades that a US president met with their Syrian counterpart. After the meeting Trump said that the US is considering normalizing relations with Syria. Trump met with al-Sharaa after after attending a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in Saudi Arabia. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman facilitated the meeting.

On Tuesday, Trump announced that the US would lift sanctions on Syria sparking celebrations across Syria. Syria’s beleaguered economy contributed to the collapse of the Assad regime in December. Speaking after his meeting with al-Sharaa, Trump said that dropping sanctions would provide Syria with a fresh start. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marko Rubio met with his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani to discuss the process of removing sanctions.

The White House later released a statement saying that during the meeting Trump urged Syria to pursue normalization with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. The Times of Israel reported on Thursday that Israel has been holding secret talks with Syrian officials about normalizing relations between the two countries. The talks are being mediated by the United Arab Emirates. Last week, Syrian officials acknowledged that they were in security talks with Israel. Publicly, the Netanyahu administration has expressed suspicion of the new government in Syria and used its suspicions to justify its military incursions into Syrian territory.

Hamas Released Last American Hostage in Gaza and Rift Grows Between Trump and Netanyahu

The militant group Hamas released the last US hostage held in Gaza. Hamas took Edan Alexander, who holds both American and Israeli citizenship, hostage during its 7 OCT 2023 attacks. On Monday Hamas handed Alexander over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza who transferred him to the IDF.

Hamas released Alexander as a gesture of goodwill toward the Trump administration just ahead of Trump’s first official visit to the region. Hamas released a statement saying that it is ready to “immediately begin” ceasefire negotiations. Responding to the release, Trump wrote on Truth Social “This was a step taken in good faith toward the United States and efforts of the mediator - Qatar and Egypt - to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones. Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict.”

Israel’s Channell 12 reported a growing rift between the Trump and Netanyahu administrations at the time of Alexander’s release. According to the report, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas that “Israel is prolonging the war, even though we do not see where further progress can be made.”

In Other News

• Rival Libyan militias clashed in the capital city of Tripoli leading to the death Abdel Ghanem al-Kikli, who headed the powerful Stability Support Authority militia. On Wednesday, Libyans protested foreign involvement in Libya demanding a unified Libya.

• The PKK, a Kurdish militant group based in Turkey, announced that it is disbanding and ending its forty-plus year insurgency. In a statement released Monday, the group said that it had brought enough public attention to the Kurdish issue to allow for it to be solved democratically. Turkey said that it will continue anti-PKK operations against PKK militants until it is “certain” that the threat is eliminated.

• The IDF carried out a series of airstrike across Gaza this week killing dozens. Officials in Gaza said strikes killed 80 Palestinians on Wednesday. According to the New York Times, citing anonymous Israeli officials, the IDF targeted Muhammad Sinwar, a top Hamas official and younger brother of the former leader of the group in Gaza.

• Palestinian officials reported that Israeli forces have arrested roughly 17,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the 7 OCT 2023 attacks. It also noted that 66 Palestinians have died in detention since the outbreak of the war, while more than 10,000 are currently detained with 3,577 being held with no pending charges.

• On Wednesday, a Palestinian gunmen shot and killed a pregnant Israeli woman in the West Bank. At the time of reporting, the baby survived but remained in serious condition. The suspect remains at large.

• Amid security concerns only thirty Jews made the annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba this year. In past years the Ghriba synagogue, the oldest in Africa, has drawn thousands of Jews from Europe and Israel. In 2023 a terrorist attack killed five people at the synagogue.

Recommended:

• “Investigating the Alawite Massacres” Newlines Magazine

• “My Palestinian Family Had a Home in West Jerusalem and then came 1948” The New Republic

• “The Honeymoon is Ending in Syria” The Atlantic

• “Lost in a Land that Once was Ours” Newlines Magazine

• “I’m not as Open-Minded as I Used to be” Wisdom of the Crowds