Kuala Lampur, May 16 -- In diplomacy, there are moments that defy conventional wisdom - moments when what was deemed impossible suddenly becomes negotiable. The surprise meeting between US President Donald Trump and Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14, 2025, was precisely such a moment. It marked the first recognition by a Western power of Syria's post-Assad transitional government and set in motion the unwinding of over a decade's worth of paralysing sanctions. But more than that, it hinted at something even larger: the restoration of Syria as a functional state within the Middle East and the wider Mediterranean order.

That possibility, however faint, must not be dismissed. For if peace is ever to take root again ...