SHOTLIST:

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (SEPTEMBER 16, 2025) (ANADOLU - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) US ENVOY TOM BARRACK SAYING:

"Thank you, Your Excellency. Excuse me, but I'm going to make this short presentation in English. It's an honor for me as a representative of the president of the United States, to be here with two of the greatest foreign ministers in our region.
And I come here as a representative of the president of the United States and the secretary of state in a difficult moment in the region and the world. The United States is committed to usher healthy, nurture. The countries of Syria different from America. It is an ancient civilization where the young, the hopeful, prosperous. The America, on the other hand, is a relatively new civilization with a fairly developed and practiced government, and which we have many lessons learned of our own past, our own mistakes, and our own victories. The steps that are taken today by your government are historic. The building blocks of trust, the confidence of understanding inches, centimeters and decades to build and can be lost. And it's a commitment to one people of making different cultures different religions, different practices under one nation, which together can be better than individual parts. This is the goal of Syria, of this government of Jordan, who's done a fantastic job at ushering the pieces to help get to a puzzle with a sense, and America doing the best we can and assuring that the process for us from December of 2024. And so today is a short time. All of you together are building unbelievable highways for generations. We're going to hit speed bumps. We're going to have a bus stops along the way today. I believe there's an architecture of an app for the G.P.S. to build that highway for generations. I'm here today. You'll build hope, trust, understanding, and a little bit of tolerance. Application for Minister for taking the lead performance of Saturday. For being so dedicated to a process of being and and on behalf of the president, United States, you have our best wishes, our interests and our own best advice. For my own blessings, for us."

2. JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AYMAN SAFADI SPEAKING AT PRESS CONFERENCE (Arabic)

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) US ENVOY TOM BARRACK SAYING:

"If you remember about May 10th of this year, President Trump. With MBS in Saudi Arabia made a decision. And five minutes to launch Syria into the next part of this, moving sanctions that had been in place for almost 20 years. America utilizing its resources at home and in the region to provide the Syrian government with its own resources for its own people. This is the goal. it's happening in real time today is an example of America's commitment to the new Syrian government by assigning meaning on behalf of President Trump and Secretary Rubio to concentrate on exactly those issues is a sign of America's commitment and confusing environment in the region for sure.We're trying with all of the neighbors where we have influence in some places where we don't have influence to bring back the strings, those threads of help understanding, assistance together and and the tapestry. And I think today is a major milestone and that for of things." DAMASCUS, SYRIA - SEPTEMBER 16: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced a seven-step roadmap on Tuesday to resolve the crisis in the southern city of Suwayda, following talks in Damascus with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi, and US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack.

Addressing a press conference, Shaibani said the plan seeks to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian and medical aid to Suwayda, restore essential services to enable a return to normal life, and deploy local security forces to secure roads and facilitate movement.

The plan also aims to compensate those affected and allow the return of displaced persons, clarify the fate of the missing, launch a reconciliation process that includes all communities in the province and hold accountable “all those whose hands are stained with assaults on civilians and their property,” he added.

Safadi, for his part, said the parties agreed on a Syrian-Jordanian-American plan “to overcome the events in Suwayda under the framework of Syria’s unity and stability.”

“We want Syria to stabilize, recover and rebuild after years of destruction and suffering, and to start practical steps toward a brighter future for all Syrians,” he added.

The top Jordanian diplomat stressed the need to hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable and deliver humanitarian assistance.

“Security in southern Syria is an extension of Jordan’s security and essential for our stability,” he said.

The US envoy said he came to Syria “as a representative of the President of the United States and the Secretary of State in a difficult moment in the region and the world.”

He described Syria as “a country different from America, and an ancient civilization with a young new hopeful prosperous government.”

Barrack said confidence-building “takes inches, centimeters and decades to build and can be lost in an instant.”

“We are going to hit speed bumps or we are going to have bus stops along the way,” he added.

Tuesday’s discussions build on earlier rounds hosted by Amman in July and August that focused on consolidating a ceasefire in Suwayda and finding a resolution to the conflict there.

Suwayda has observed a ceasefire since July 19 following a week of armed clashes between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes and Israeli military attacks.