Proposed US Deal to Return Tripoli to Syria and Redraw Levant Borders

A policy paper argues that the United States should negotiate a transfer of Tripoli to Syrian control and a limited land swap to settle long-standing Levantine disputes.

In 1920 French High Commissioner Henri Gouraud removed Tripoli from Faisal’s Syrian Arab Kingdom, establishing a Maronite-majority Greater Lebanon and denying Syria a Mediterranean outlet. Over a century later, the author argues that this artificial border continues to enable Hezbollah’s weapons and cash routes and deprives Syria of vital trade. He proposes that the Trump administration negotiate a three-part deal: return Tripoli’s administration to Damascus, allocate roughly 50 square kilometres from the former UNDOF zone to Syria as a symbolic Golan recovery, and have Israel withdraw from occupied Syrian high ground while guaranteeing security for the 700,000 Druze in Suwayda through a new Druze Continuum Authority.

The plan calls for a dedicated US envoy, a congressional-approved five-year reconstruction facility for Tripoli’s port with strict customs transparency, and rapid activation of the Continuum Authority in Majdal Shams. If enacted, the arrangement would correct a historic colonial error, curb Hezbollah logistics, and create a framework for broader regional stability.