Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of a NATO gathering in Antalya, Turkey. The high-level meeting, which included Senator Lindsey Graham and other U.S. officials, focused on Syria’s reintegration into the regional and global community, according to the State Department.
The closed-door session follows President Donald Trump’s meeting earlier this week with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, where Trump pledged to lift all remaining U.S. sanctions on Syria. The Antalya talks signal a major diplomatic shift, as Washington explores new strategies for stabilizing Syria after more than a decade of civil war.
No official readout of the discussions was released, but officials say the goal is to lay groundwork for broader international engagement with Damascus and encourage reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and investment in postwar Syria.
