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President Trump has proposed building a luxury ski resort on Mount Hermon that straddles the Israel-Syria border. It fits Trump’s style of trying to ease conflicts and battles with incentives like bold real estate visions that would bring economic opportunities to the region instead. However, the idea faces huge practical, political, and security hurdles. For now, the luxury ski resort on Mount Hermon remains only a proposal, and has no confirmed site, no announced funding, and no construction timeline.
The ski resort is part of a proposed joint economic zone between Israel and Syria. This zone would include: wind farms and energy projects, data centers, pharmaceutical plants, and new infrastructure (e.g., possibly oil pipelines). President Trump’s administration describes it as a confidence-building measure to link security with shared prosperity, reduce tensions, and encourage cooperation. Israel and Syria have technically been at war for decades, with no formal diplomatic relations.
Israel’s military controls Mount Hermon, and there are no lodges or extra amenities. The military uses the ski area to train for extreme weather scenarios. Locals will tell you not to stray far from the resort because of the border with Syria. President Trump has publicly supported Syria’s new leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power after Bashar al-Assad’s fall in December 2024, who ruled Syria for over two decades. In November, President Trump hosted al-Sharaa, the first-ever visit by a Syrian President to the United States.
This week has seen military clashes between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces in Aleppo. President Trump spoke on Friday at a news conference regarding the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Northern Syria, calling for an immediate halt to the intensifying clashes. “I want to see peace. Yes, I do,” President Trump said. “The Kurds and the Syrian government, we get along with both, as you know very well.”
Recent developments under U.S. mediation included resumed talks, with delegations meeting in Paris this week. An agreement to establish a U.S.-supervised “fusion cell” (or communication mechanism) for: intelligence sharing, military de-escalation, diplomatic contact, and commercial discussions. Overall, Washington sees this as an opportunity to test cooperation and potentially reset relations.
This is not the first time President Trump has used economic and capital investments as a tool to try and de-escalate tensions in a conflicted region. Last year, President Trump announced the Gaza Proposal, which was estimated to cost $112 billion over ten years. The plan was to build a coastal resort with luxury beaches, high-speed rails, and A.I.-powered infrastructure.
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This current proposal of a luxury ski resort on the Israel-Syria border will not be easy to accomplish. First, Mount Hermon is a vital strategic area due to its high elevation, and an area that Israel has long used for military surveillance, observation posts, and training. This area has been in conflict for decades, including past wars (1967 and 1973), and more recently, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Syria also remains deeply unstable domestically, with heavy fighting having flared again in Aleppo between government forces and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. This has led to neighborhoods being hit by intense shelling, schools, offices, and flights have been shut down, and has led to thousands of civilians being forced to flee the region. The internal conflicts that Syria is facing with ethnic tensions and power struggles will only make the luxury ski resort on Mount Hermon even more difficult to achieve.
Senior Israeli and Syrian officials met on Tuesday, and the sides agreed to begin dialogue on cooperating in the fields of energy, healthcare, and agriculture. This meeting is the first time Israel and Syria have agreed to engage in discussions on civilian issues, rather than just on security arrangements.
The path for peace remains as steep as the geography of Mount Hermon relative to the region. It is unknown if Trump’s proposal will work or if it is just another real estate deal that he is pushing. Perhaps it is more than that, however; it could be a high-stakes test of whether economic opportunity can stop decades of hostility, with a ski resort lying at the center. So far, it is only a proposal, and with no confirmed site, no announced funding, and no construction timeline. Whether the proposed ski resort will ever materialize is still up in the air.
“No lodges or extra amenities”
Obviously the author did not even both to look up the ski area on it’s own website, or google maps. A smidgen of effort would be appreciated.