\u201cDuring the meeting, discussions took place on the current regional and international situations, as well as a number of issues of common interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting came as Al-Sharaa opens dialogue channels with the international community more than a year after overthrowing former Syrian President Bashar Assad. The transition has been controversial based on Al-Sharaa\u2019s past ties.<\/p>\n
The post about Mills\u2019 meeting came hours after Syrian officials also posted photographs with Al-Sharaa and United Nations officials<\/a>. Those include Tom Fletcher, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Alexander de Croo, Director of the United Nations Development Programme. The prior day, Al-Sharaa met<\/a> with King Charles III\u00a0of Britain.<\/p>\n However, Mills\u2019 Office made clear he did not travel to Syria in his official capacity.<\/p>\n Florida Politics reached out to the State Department, which referred all questions about Mills\u2019 trip to his office.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has signaled a willingness to engage with the new regime in Syria. During Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday, Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack posted \u201cwarmest greetings\u201d to Syrians and those in Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall, deliberate choices are what gradually lower the temperature around us, turning division into dialogue and strangers into neighbors,\u201d Barrack posted<\/a>. \u201cOn this blessed day, we reaffirm our commitment to walking that path together \u2014 toward peace, shared prosperity, and deeper mutual understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n Mills has closely followed political developments in the Middle East for years, and in February attended a Committee hearing<\/a> on U.S. relations with a post-Assad Syria.<\/p>\n There, both House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast, a Stuart Republican, and Ranking Democrat Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, expressed optimism about the end of the Assad era but extreme trepidation about sectarian violence against religious minorities during Al-Sharaa\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n Mills at the hearing noted that he visited Al-Sharaa in Syria the prior year<\/a>\u00a0during a trip with U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, an Indiana Republican, in an unofficial visit.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Al-Sharaa the best that we could get?\u201d Mills said in the hearing. \u201cNo, probably not, but it\u2019s the cards we\u2019re dealt. It\u2019s what the people have chosen in many areas. And I would caution that we have to at least allow the agreements and things that are being put in place to actually take hold.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/KatCammack-DigitalAds-floridaPolitics-2025-728x90-1.jpg\")
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