Long-shuttered US ambassador's residence in Damascus is reopened as Washington mends ties with Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An American flag was hoisted outside of the long-shuttered U.S. ambassador’s residence in Damascus on Thursday, in a sign of growing ties between Washington and the new Syrian government.

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, who has also been appointed special envoy to Syria, arrived to inaugurate the residence, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported.

He met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and attended the signing of an agreement for a consortium of Qatari, Turkish and U.S. companies for development of a 5,000-megawatt energy project to revitalize much of Syria's war-battered electricity grid.

Under the deal signed Thursday, a consortium led by Qatar’s UCC Concession Investments — along with Power International USA and Turkey’s Kalyon GES Enerji Yatirimlari, Cengiz Enerji — will develop four combined-cycle gas turbines with a total generating capacity estimated at approximately 4,000 megawatts and a 1,000-megawatt solar power plant.

A statement sent out by UCC said that “once completed, these projects are expected to supply over 50% of the country's electricity needs.”

Washington hasn't formally reopened its embassy in Damascus, which closed in 2012 after protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad, met by a brutal crackdown, spiraled into civil war. Assad was unseated in December in a lightning rebel offensive.

But Barrack’s visit and the raising of the flag were a significant signal of warming relations.

Washington was initially circumspect about Syria’s new leaders, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former leader of an Islamist insurgent group that the U.S. still lists as a terrorist organization. However, the Trump administration — encouraged by two U.S. allies in the region, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — has in recent weeks shown increasing openness to Damascus.

Trump held a surprise meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh earlier this month, and the U.S. has begun to roll back decades of sanctions slapped on Syria under the Assad dynasty.

Speaking at the ceremony celebrating the signing of the energy deals, Barrack praised the “bold decision” to lift sanctions and said the move comes with “no conditions, no requirements."

There is only "one simple expectation and that expectation sits behind me, the alignment of these amazing countries,” he said, referring to the flags of the U.S., Qatar, Turkey and Syria behind him.

The U.S. State Department posted a statement on X on Thursday attributed to Trump announcing Barrack's appointment as envoy to Syria.

“Tom understands there is great potential in working with Syria to stop Radicalism, improve Relations, and secure Peace in the Middle East. Together, we will Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” the statement said.

Barrack thanked Trump in an X post for “your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination.”

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, speaks during the signing of an agreement for a consortium of Qatari, Turkish and U.S. companies for development of an energy project, in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. (SANA via AP)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, left, shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. (SANA via AP)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack raises the American flag at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (SANA via AP)

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, center, arrives to inaugurate the long-shuttered U.S. ambassador's residence in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

A member of the security forces stands guard outside the U.S. ambassador's residence as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack arrives to inaugurate the long-shuttered compound in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)