Trump's national security adviser says ISIS, Israel border priorities in Syria

Congressman Mike Waltz, who incoming President Donald Trump nominated to be his national security advisor, said on Sunday that the United States is interested in keeping a lid on the Islamic State (ISIS) and ensuring Israel’s border security with regard to Syria policy.

Trump tapped Waltz, a former Army Green Beret and Iran hawk, as his pick for national security advisor last month. He will officially begins the job on Jan. 20. 

Syria priorities

In a Sunday interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Waltz said that maintaining US support for the Kurdish-led forces guarding the ISIS fighters and families in the northeast prison camps is the top priority for the United States in the country following the rebel ouster of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

“Tens of thousands of fighters and families that are sitting in prison camps guarded by our friends the Kurds, supported by us, and we can’t have that unleash again,” Waltz said in the interview. "That's our key interest."

There are around 10,000 ISIS fighters and 40,000 other individuals affiliated with the group being held in northeast Syria. The detainees are guarded by the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has warned about an ISIS resurgence since the fall of Assad. Meanwhile, there have been renewed clashes between Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups and the SDF and concerns of a renewed Turkish military offensive in recent weeks.

Waltz identified the security of Israel’s borders as the United States’ second interest in Syria. He praised Israel’s military actions in Syria this month, saying they were "hitting key sites we don’t want falling into terrorist hands.”

The Israeli military seized parts of southern Syria close to the border after the collapse of Assad’s army, and struck numerous Syrian military assets, including naval vessels. Israel has described the moves as measures taken for its security.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian rebel group which led the offensive against Assad, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, United Nations and others.

Waltz added that the “dynamic” between the United States and its “partners” in the Gulf is another priority in Syria, without providing further details.

The congressman clarified that Trump’s mandate in the election was to avoid US involvement in regional wars. However, he said that the incoming administration would be watching Syria nonetheless.

“His mandate overwhelmingly was do not drag us into Middle Eastern wars. We do not need American boots running around Syria in any shape or form. But we are keeping an eye on those things,” he said.

The United States currently has around 2,000 troops in Syria, where they support the SDF in the fight against ISIS.

Saudi-Israel normalization

Waltz said that the chances of Israel and Saudi Arabia reaching an agreement to normalize relations are “good” in the interview.

“I think they’re good. I think it’s a natural next step,” he said, adding that the “pieces” for a deal are there.

In 2020, the first Trump administration brokered the Abraham Accords, in which Israel established full relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and, later, Morocco. Trump and President Joe Biden both worked to get Saudi Arabia to follow suit in establishing ties with Israel, but the effort was complicated by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last year.

Waltz tied Israel-Saudi normalization to efforts to secure the release of the Americans detained by Hamas in Gaza as well as to improvements in the Palestinian territory, though he did not elaborate on the latter.

“The overall prospects of moving that relationship forward: get our people out, get the issue of Gaza to a better place, at least for now. And then we are absolutely talking about a broader deal,” he said.

There are currently seven US citizens among the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Earlier this month, Trump warned that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by the time of his inauguration.

In October, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that a deal with Israel would be “off the table” until there is a “resolution to Palestinian statehood.”

The Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported last week that Saudi Arabia and Israel reached a breakthrough in the negotiations that included a “vague” commitment of moving toward a Palestinian state.