WASHINGTON — Nineteen months into the Donald Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has named a high-level diplomatic team to work on Syria. In the final stages of the military campaign to combat the Islamic State’s (IS) physical presence in Syria, Trump has expressed continued misgivings about funding any post-war stabilization.
“The United States has ended the ridiculous 230 Million Dollar yearly development payment to Syria,” Trump tweeted Aug. 18. “Saudi Arabia and other rich countries in the Middle East will start making payments instead of the U.S. I want to develop the U.S., our military and countries that help us!”
On Aug. 17, Pompeo swore in former US Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey James Jeffrey as his special representative for Syria engagement. The State Department also named retired US military officer Joel Rayburn, who until recently served as the National Security Council senior director for Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, as the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and Syria special envoy.
In their new roles, Jeffrey will coordinate all aspects of US Syria policy and support for a political solution, outside of the counter-IS mission led by Brett McGurk. Rayburn will serve as Jeffrey’s deputy, focusing on Jordan and countering Hezbollah, State Department officials said.
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