WASHINGTON — Improving security ties between Israel and Syria may offer a rare opportunity to reduce regional tensions, witnesses told a House panel Tuesday morning, however lawmakers were concerned over violence and the targeting of minorities inside Syria.
“Having the United States bringing the Israelis and the Syrians together is a good thing, and there’s no other country with the credibility to actually make that happen,” Dr. Mara Karlin,
Brookings Institution Fellow and Johns Hopkins University professor, said.
The hearing came weeks after the U.S. mediated talks in Paris last month between Israeli and Syrian officials. Participants agreed to a “joint fusion mechanism,” a dedicated communication channel for intelligence sharing, security coordination and military de-escalation, following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024.
The U.S. mediation came as President Donald Trump only recently began engaging in diplomatic relations with the Syrian president, after a long suspension of U.S-Syrian relations during the civil war.
Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said he met with Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa in November, and was “not happy” with the progress al-Sharaa has made since taking power in Jan. 2025.
“We need President al-Sharaa to do better,” Mast said. “These are not easy things to deal with, but recent actions against Druze, Kurds and Alawites are all steps in the wrong direction. They do not create confidence for the United States.”
During the hearing, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., played a video he said showed alleged ISIS fighters killing three women. He said extremist violence remains a threat to Syria’s minority communities and opposed the U.S. giving its leverage to Syria.
“I’m hopeful that something great can happen with Syria and the United States ought to be part of that, but giving all our leverage in advance, to me, doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Perry said.
As a solution, the U.S. should speak with “one voice” with other Arab states, James F. Jeffrey, a Philip Solondz Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in his testimony.
“Do not oppress minorities, do not exclude them, do not do things like not allow them to use their language,” Jeffrey said.
However, Karlin said improved Israel-Syria coordination, supported by U.S. policy, can still help stabilize the region, such as by limiting Hezbollah’s influence and building Israeli confidence in Damascus as a reliable security partner.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the US should help Syria build its electric and water systems, to help the government succeed.
“All of these are extremely important, because you have to reach the people that’s on the ground,” Meeks said. “That makes a difference, and that gives a feeling of a huge difference from the Assad administration.”
Meeks asked the witnesses to assess the humanitarian conditions in Syria, and advise Congress on what issues it should prioritize to help the Syrian population.
“The humanitarian situation is pretty devastating,” Karlin said. “It’s just skeletons of buildings, unexploded ordinance, and folks trying to figure out what is their livelihood in this new Syria.”
However, Karlin said the USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, which the Trump administration disbanded, has historically helped stabilize fragile states during political transitions.
She said that Washington could coordinate with the State Department and international partners to prioritize Syria’s stabilization and encourage broader regional and European support.
“It is in our interest for a country like Syria to be secure and to be stable so it doesn’t export its problems the way that we have seen,” Karlin said.