US removes Syria from terror list as diplomacy accelerates with Israel

Washington delists Syria on Monday as Mossad chief meets Syrian FM in Jordan, while a separate Israeli strike on an airbase may have spurred the talks.

US removes Syria from terror list as diplomacy accelerates with Israel — On Monday, August 24, 2026, the United States removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the step was taken "in recognition of the positive actions and additional commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Shara to completely disengage from international terrorist acts." [^1] That same Sunday, Mossad chief Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met in Jordan for US-mediated talks. The meeting came five days after an Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria—an attack that risked a direct clash with Turkey after a Turkish delegation reportedly visited the site. Yet rather than ending diplomacy, the strike may have accelerated it, concentrating minds on both sides. [^2] Israeli security officials assess Turkey as a rival, not an enemy, but warn the status could shift amid ongoing Middle East changes. [^3] Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis issued a sharp warning to Turkey, stating that Greece will respond with all means at its disposal to any threat. [^4] The diplomatic choreography around Syria is moving fast—but the open question is whether the US delisting and the Israeli-Syrian talks can hold without a parallel understanding with Ankara. Coalition funds frozen, Altalena tensions flare, and settler violence data diverges from Katz's claims — Israel's High Court of Justice issued interim injunctions preventing the transfer of hundreds of millions of shekels in coalition funds, freezing 270 million shekels for the Ministry of Education and an additional 16 million shekels, as well as 117 million shekels for the Ministry of Settlement plus an extra 6 million shekels.[^6a3674d1144473d1ffd4c1f1d99b1ccc] The funds had been approved by the Knesset Finance Committee in an unusual session during the Knesset recess. The court's intervention comes amid a broader political confrontation: a senior Likud source warned coalition parties that are not passing the electoral threshold to "lay down the keys, go home," adding that Likud will "do and act with all our might so that no votes g