WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump raised the prospect of Syria safe zones in a call with the Saudi king Jan. 29, after having removed a provision calling for his secretaries of state and defense to produce a proposal for Syria safe zones from a controversial executive order issued Jan. 27 that bans Syrian refugees from the United States indefinitely.

The deletion of the provision and the subsequent discussion of safe zones with the king have raised questions about what Trump may be envisioning for his policies on Syria, for countering the so-called Islamic State (IS) and for his engagements with foreign counterparts, from Russia to the Middle East.

The arrangements that the new Trump administration would like to pursue with Russia to try to achieve a Syria political settlement and combat IS are likely to be a central topic of conversation when Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 15, former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said.

While “much remains unknown about the new administration’s approach to Syria, they made references to safe zones, to protect civilian populations,” Shapiro told Al-Monitor in a telephone interview from Israel on Jan. 31.