US: Tom Barrack says 'benevolent monarchies' work best in Middle East

The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, has stated that a "benevolent monarchy" has "worked best" in the Middle East.

Speaking at a panel on Syria during the Doha Forum on Sunday, Barrack praised the Syrian administration of President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s "epic" and "heroic" achievements following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

The US envoy warned against western efforts to impose democratic models on the Middle East, arguing that such initiatives "have not been successful".

“Almost every decision that the West has imposed on the region, rather than allowing it to evolve on its own, has been a mistake,” Barrack said.

“Every time we intervene, whether it's in Libya, Iraq, or any of the other places where we've tried to create a colonised mandate, it has not been successful. We end up with paralysis,” he added.

Barrack urged the international community to allow Syria to build its own sovereignty, rather than impose external solutions.

"What we all need to do is help them, empower them, and encourage them, and allow them to form the kind of government and inclusive regime that they, the Syrians, wish to establish," he said.

Turning to tensions along the Syrian-Israeli border, the US envoy suggested that these could be resolved through taking "baby steps".

'I don’t see a democracy anywhere'

He stressed that Syria must define its own trajectory "without the imposition of western expectations such as, ‘we want a democracy in 12 months.'"

Barrack also seemed to question Israel’s claims to democracy, stating: "I don’t see a democracy anywhere. Israel can claim to be a democracy, but in this region, whether you like it or not, what has worked best is, in fact, a benevolent monarchy."

Barrack, a billionaire real estate investor, has made similar unorthodox comments since being appointed to his post by President Donald Trump.

Ten things Tom Barrack said in wild interview on Israel, Lebanon and Muslims

Read More »

"What we all need to do is help them, empower them, and encourage them, and allow them to form the kind of government and inclusive regime that they, the Syrians, wish to establish,"

In August, he referred to himself as an “events-driven mercenary” during an interview with online personality Mario Nawfal.

In the same interview, he said that "in Israel’s mind," the modern borders in the Middle East, drawn up by the Sykes-Picot agreement, "are meaningless".

"They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders."

In September, Barrack made a number of candid remarks about Israel, Lebanon, and Qatar, among other issues, in an interview with The National.

He described peace in the region as “an illusion”.

He also stated that the US was arming the Lebanese army "so they can fight their own people".