{"id":2440279,"date":"2025-05-29T08:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T12:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-flag-raised-in-damascus-syria-for-first-time-since-2012\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T08:38:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T12:38:04","slug":"us-flag-raised-in-damascus-syria-for-first-time-since-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-flag-raised-in-damascus-syria-for-first-time-since-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"US flag raised in Damascus, Syria, for first time since 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-flag-raised-in-damascus-syria-for-first-time-since-2012%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2440279&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. flag was raised in Damascus, Syria, on May 29, 2025, marking its first appearance in the city as 2012. This event, attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani and U.S.Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, took place at the U.S. ambassador&#8217;s residence. The flag was raised as part of a ceremonial effort to signal a warming of U.S.-syrian relations following the alleviation of sanctions by President Donald Trump. The embassy itself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/broadway-lights-up-again-after-covid-19-closures\/\" title=\"Broadway lights up again after COVID-19 closures\">remains closed due<\/a> to previous violence and safety concerns,but the flag raising is seen as a potential step towards reopening. The ceremony was received positively,with applause from attendees. Barrack has been appointed as the Special Envoy to Syria,with the goal of securing greater stability in the region.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">US flag raised in Damascus, Syria, for first time since 2012<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2127046\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The Stars and Stripes were flown above Damascus, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/syria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Syria\">Syria<\/a>, on Thursday for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>In a ceremony attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"U.S.\">U.S.<\/a> Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack raised the U.S. flag above the U.S. ambassador&rsquo;s residence in the capital. The symbolic raising was the first time the U.S. flag had flown above Damascus since Washington shut down its embassy in 2012 in response to violence that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-86-of-workers-dont-want-to-return-to-office-full-time\/\" title=\"POLL: 86% Of Workers Don\u2019t Want To Return To Office Full-Time\">eventually killed<\/a> over 650,000 people.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3424971\/russia-suggests-new-peace-talks-with-ukraine\/\">Russia suggests new peace talks with Ukraine to be scheduled in Istanbul<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3424488\/haiti-blackwater-founder-erik-prince-fight-gangs-drones\/\">Haiti enlists Blackwater founder Erik Prince to fight gang scourge with assassin drones<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3424012\/netanyahu-confirms-mohammed-sinwar-killed-airstrike-hamas-israel\/\">Netanyahu confirms airstrike killed Hamas leader Mohammed &#8216;the shadow&#8217; Sinwar<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">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&rsquo;s residence in Damascus, Syria, on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (SANA via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The raising of the flag alongside Syrian officials came after President Donald Trump moved to warm relations with the teetering government by removing sanctions. It was greeted with applause from those gathered.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The US flag flies in Damascus again. <\/p>\n<p>Special envoy Thomas Barrack raised it at the U.S. residency alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gIvDWeBpDl\">pic.twitter.com\/gIvDWeBpDl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/timourazhari\/status\/1928031981163475052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The U.S. Embassy remains closed, but the reopening of the ambassador&rsquo;s residence signals it will likely follow soon.<\/p>\n<p>Trump appointed Barrack as special envoy to Syria on Thursday, saying the move would help secure peace in the region.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am pleased to announce that our United States Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, will be serving as our 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!&rdquo; Trump said in a Truth Social <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/114586960080176462\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"post\">post<\/a>, reposted by the State Department.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Grateful to President Trump for your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination,&rdquo; Barrack said in a post on X shortly after his new appointment.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Grateful to President Trump for your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ambassador Tom Barrack (@USAMBTurkiye) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USAMBTurkiye\/status\/1927938761783906640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated on the Trump administration&rsquo;s sudden decision to lift sanctions on the new Syrian government, which is run by Ahmed al Sharaa, the former head of Syria&rsquo;s al Qaeda affiliate who was first sent to Syria by Islamic State head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi to lead the group in the country during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/happy-thanksgiving\/\" title=\"Happy Thanksgiving!!\">civil war<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/3417019\/marco-rubio-syria-collapse-transitional-government-without-us-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"admitted\">admitted<\/a> the move was a gamble but said it was worth taking as the country could be just weeks away from a full collapse and descent into civil war.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/3417019\/marco-rubio-syria-collapse-transitional-government-without-us-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">RUBIO: SYRIAN TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT COULD COLLAPSE WITHOUT US ENGAGEMENT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If we engage them, it may work out, it may not work out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we did not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out. In fact, it is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they&rsquo;re facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >full-scale civil war<\/a> of epic proportions, basically, the country splitting up.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Embassy in Syria was closed in February 2012 in response to a &ldquo;surge in violence,&rdquo; raising serious concerns that &ldquo;our embassy is not sufficiently protected from armed attack,&rdquo; then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2012\/02\/us-closes-syrian-embassy-removes-staff-072497\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a> at the time. When it closed, it was operated by a skeleton crew.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2127046\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2127046\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US flag hoisted in Damascus for the first time since 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2440280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Damascus-US-flag.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[46264,7887,36695],"class_list":["post-2440279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-damascus","tag-syria","tag-us-flag"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Damascus-US-flag.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2440279"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2440283,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440279\/revisions\/2440283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2440280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2440279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2440279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2440279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}