Rep. Hamadeh meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, presses for normalization with Israel

Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani in Damascus and advocated for action on several issues including his "continuing efforts to bring Americans home," Hamadeh's office said Sunday.

He also advocated for a Syria that "looks towards the future and not the past" during his trip.

Hamadeh is the co-author of the bipartisan Promoting Education on the Abraham Accords for Comprehensive Engagement (PEACE) Act.

"This historic step marks the first time an American official has shuttled between Jerusalem and Damascus in decades. As an emissary of the Peace Through Strength agenda, Congressman Hamadeh, a former U.S. Army Reserve Intelligence Officer, was in Syria for 6 hours to meet with President al-Sharaa to discuss the return of Kayla Mueller's body to her family in Arizona," his office said in a news release.

He also advocated for the "need to establish a secure humanitarian corridor for the safe delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to Suwayda, and the need for Syria to attain normalization with Israel and join the Abraham Accords." 

Hamadeh, a member of the House Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs Committees, advised al-Sharaa that the government "must provide peace and security for all of its people, including the Christian, Druze, Kurdish, Alawite, and other minority communities" in order to establish a unified Syria.

Hamadeh's office said the lawmaker remains "supportive" of Trump’s decision to "lift some sanctions in order
to assist the Syrian people and their new government in rebuilding their country."

He also thinks Congress should "play a key role in this process to ensure that the Syrian government is upholding its commitments to the U.S."