Trump urges Israel to engage Syria as raids threaten talks Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, US President Donald Trump again pressed Israel to pursue diplomacy with Syria’s new leadership, even as Israeli strikes continue across the country. Trump spoke favourably about Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, urging Netanyahu to engage with Damascus rather than escalate militarily. “I hope he’s going to get along with Syria, because the new president of Syria is working very hard to do a good job. He really is,” Trump said. He added: “I know he’s a tough cookie, and you’re not going to get a choir boy to lead Syria. That’s the one thing I want to say.” Trump suggested that repairing relations between Damascus and Tel Aviv would feature prominently in his discussions with Netanyahu. “I hope they’re going to get along. Because, you know, I dropped the sanctions on Syria, because otherwise they wouldn’t have had a chance. We want to see Syria survive, so we’re going to be talking about Syria too,” he said. The remarks come as Israel carried out fresh raids in Syria over the weekend, fuelling concerns that continued military aggression could undermine any move towards dialogue or a new security arrangement.