Witkoff claimed that Saudi Arabia was also on the path of normalising with Israel [Getty/file photo]
The US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Lebanon and Syria could “soon normalise relations with Israel” during an event organised by the American Jewish Committee on Monday.
Trump’s newly-appointed Middle East envoy said political transformations in the region “may extend to Lebanon and Syria”, pointing to the challenges facing groups linked to Iran in the two countries, in a reference to the weakening of Hezbollah and the ouster of the pro-Iran Bashar Al-Assad regime.
“In terms of the Iranian crescent, it has been basically decimated. Look at what’s happened with Syria, we’ve got an epic election in Lebanon, and so tons of things happening,” he said as quoted by AFP.
“Lebanon, by the way, could actually mobilize and come into the Abraham Peace Accords, as could potentially Syria. So, so many profound changes are happening.”
The idea was also floated in October by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said Beirut could have diplomatic relations with Israel if Saudi Arabia makes that step first.
Lebanon, however, does not recognise Israel, and it is illegal for any a Lebanese national to visit the country, while anyone with an Israeli passport or stamp is refused entry into Lebanon.
Palestinian writer and political analyst Yasser Zaatreh described Witkoff’s comments as a “tragedy” given Israel’s recent invasions of both Lebanon and Syria.
“Trump and his gang of thugs think they are Gods in the universe, they give orders and are obeyed.”
Both Lebanon and Syria have been severely impacted by Israel’s war in Gaza over the past one-and-a-half years.
Israeli forces had engaged in cross-border skirmishes for almost a year with Hezbollah before the conflict took a turn into a fully-fledged war in September 2024, which killed over 4,000 Lebanese.
Israel went on to invade southern Lebanon in October, before a ceasefire agreement took place on 27 November, though Israel has violated the ceasefire multiple times since, striking south Lebanon locations and killing dozens of Lebanese since.
In Syria, Israel bombarded what it called Hezbollah or Iran-linked sites in the country in parallel with its war in Gaza, and proceeded to invade the buffer zone in southern Syria adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, claiming it is targeting the Syrian Army’s military capabilities.
Israel went on to escalate its strikes in southern Syria and Damascus, issuing a warning against any remaining regime forces and current groups in the country’s south.
Syria’s interim government has repeatedly voiced its desire for Israel to withdraw from the country and stop attacking it, but it has said that it does not have the military capabilities to react against Israel given its ongoing transitional period.
Lebanese parliament member Wael Abou Faour said on Wednesday that the most Lebanon would do is “agree to a truce agreement” with Israel, akin to that of 1949, where Israel signed a number of armistice agreement with Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt following the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
“We have gathered around the state, whose powers should not be shared by anyone, whether armed, in foreign relations or interfering in the foreign affairs of the region,” Abou Faour added, in a potential reference to US pressure on Lebanon to normalise ties with Israel, given the Washington-brokered November ceasefire and the weakening of Hezbollah.
“The state’s monopoly over all these is the challenge facing us that can only be met with more national unity among the Lebanese”.
Israel also said it would remain in five strategic points in southern Lebanon despite missing the deadline for its complete withdrawal, and demands from Beirut.
Israel said it would remain station in the five points to “defend its residents and to make sure there’s no immediate threat”.
Witkoff made the comments on Beirut and Damascus as he voiced “optimism” for Saudi Arabia to become the latest country to establish relations with Israel via the controversial Abraham Accords.
Riyadh has been long-rumored to normalise ties with Tel Aviv over the years in the aftermath of the accords which saw Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain establish ties with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, however, has repeatedly said it would not establish relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state established – a rhetoric which intensified amid Israel’s war in Gaza which has killed 61,707 Palestinians since the outbreak of its war in October 2023.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that he will get Riyadh to establish relations with Israel and expand the Abraham Accords after he took office for the second time in January.
Trump has also provoked much anger in the region this month, after he said that the US would “take over Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East”, demanding that its population be expelled and taken in by Egypt and Jordan.
