UPDATE - Syria ‘has been totally cooperative’ toward deal with Israel, says US envoy

ADDS MORE DETAILS, CHANGES DECK; OTHER EDITS

By Rania Abu Shamala and Yasin Gungor

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said that Syria “has been totally cooperative” toward a deal with Israel.

Speaking to United Arab Emirate daily The National on Friday, on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit hosted by Abu Dhabi, Barrack said Damascus is “on the right track, and their attitude with us has been totally cooperative.”

Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Türkiye, said that while Syria is pushing for peace, Israel remains wary.

“Everything we ask them (Syria) to do, and dragging them towards Israel, they're doing it.”

The US envoy added that Israel “is not trusting yet,” which he said is the reason for the slow progress of the process.

“My personal view on the president's desire is we'll get a deal there, starting with the security and border agreement, utilization of zones, moving towards normalization, has to be the answer,” Barrack said.

“They (Syria) know that part of the solution is a deal with Israel,” he said. “They have so many enemy combatants trying to disrupt this.”

- 'Regime change has never worked'

On talks with Iran, Barrack said: “I think our president has been clear. He's open to real discussions. He's not open to a senseless 'kicking the can down the road,' and he knows the program. If the Iranians want to listen to what this administration is saying on enrichment and stopping the funding of the proxies, it's the answer.”

On why Israel has not eliminated Hezbollah, Barrack said there are “lots of theories,” but argued that “regime change actually has never worked,” adding that both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio oppose such strategies.

“They're into regional solutions left to the region itself,” he said, stressing that the Hezbollah issue is Israel’s, not America’s.

Barrack said the US has been involved in “about 93 coups or regime changes” since 1946 but that none produced lasting success. "We've had two regime changes in Iran already, neither one worked," he added.

Barrack said the US is engaged in the Middle East with “humanitarian interest and balance,” but warned Washington is “not going to risk American lives in a formula that's never worked for the last 100 years.”

Earlier this year the US held several rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program before they were disrupted by Israel’s 12-day war on Tehran.

- US left Iraq with 'nothing'

On Iraq, Barrack described the 2003 war as a “$3 trillion” investment with a “20-year disastrous history” and the loss of “a few hundred thousand lives,” concluding that the US “left (Iraq) with nothing.”

He cited Iraq’s federal system and similar approaches in Syria as “a great example of things that we should never do again,” arguing that such models lead to fragmentation “just like Yugoslavia.”

"That lasts for about a nanosecond, and then they start warring with each other," he added.

Barrack linked Iraq’s brief designation of Hezbollah as a terror group and its quick reversal to the country’s internal chaos and Iran’s deep influence. "The Iranian fight for Iraq is immense," he said.