In 2025, the United States pursued one of its most consequential shifts in Middle East policy in years, moving swiftly to normalize ties with Syria’s new government. Led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former head of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new government emerged after the overthrow of the Assad regime in late 2024. That shift has unfolded with extraordinary speed, encompassing high‑level diplomacy, sanctions relief and expanded security cooperation. 

But the seismic shift has also exposed the fragility of trust between Washington and Damascus. That fragility was laid bare in December when an attack by the Islamic State (ISIS) in central Syria killed two US Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter, the first American military fatalities in the country since Bashar al-Assad’s fall. The ambush, near Palmyra, was carried out by a lone Syrian security officer allegedly affiliated with ISIS. The US later responded with a wave of airstrikes targeting ISIS-affiliated sites.  

Speaking outside the White House on Dec. 13, President Donald Trump said, “We mourn the loss of three great patriots in Syria.” Trump said Syria “was fighting alongside us” and called the incident an ISIS attack on US and Syrian forces.

Domestic pushback and the US troop presence