Under the banner of Syria’s new diplomacy approach, Ahmad Al-Sharaa is seeking talks with Russia, a former adversary responsible for many of the civilian casualties in during the war. If Syrians accepted normalization with Russia, could they also accept normalization with Israel?

On October 2025 and later, in January 2026, Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa made a somewhat surprising visit to Moscow. While the visit was presented positively and mostly with a ceremonial tone, it was not divorced of controversy. Russia’s aggression against the Syrian people and its alliance with the former Syrian president – who was warmly received in Moscow where he is now building his new life – does not make Putin a natural ally.