Syria would join Abraham Accords under 'right conditions' - US lawmaker
Congressman Cory Mills: 'I am cautiously optimistic and look to maintain open dialog'; 'at one point Germany and Japan were our enemies but we have to move beyond this if we are to have stabilization'
US Congressman Cory Mills told Bloomberg on Thursday that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa expressed willingness to join the Abraham Accords with Israel – under the "right conditions."
The Florida Republican is visiting Damascus on an unofficial visit at the behest of Syrian-Americans pushing the Trump administration to remove sanctions on the country. Mills is expected to deliver a letter from al-Sharaa to US President Donald Trump.
The 44-year-old lawmaker said that he spoke with al-Sharaa directly for 90 minutes to discuss what the Trump administration would need Syria to do for sanctions to be lifted.
Syria has been on the list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1979, with sanctions seen as an important step to rebuild the country after more than 10 years of civil war.
"I am cautiously optimistic and look to maintain open dialog," said Mills. "At one point Germany and Japan were our enemies but we have to move beyond this if we are to have stabilization."
Mills was a soldier who fought in the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, while al-Sharaa was imprisoned in that country as a member of al-Qaeda in the country. Later, his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (under its previous iteration of Jabhat a-Nusra) was the terror group's affiliate in Syria, before cutting ties with al-Qaeda.
"I told him let’s talk soldier to soldier – going from the battlefield to governance is a very difficult transition," Mills said.