US president calls on Syria’s interim president to form relations with Israel, promises US will lift ‘all sanctions’ against Damascus. US President Donald Trump indicates Washington is weighing normalising relations with Damascus after meeting Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa during the first-ever such meeting between the two countries’ leaders in 25 years.
Trump announced the decision on Wednesday at a gathering with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, where he also stated that the US will remove “all sanctions” against Syria. With the help of the great leaders here in this room, we are now looking at normalising relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump stated, affirming his short meeting with al-Sharaa.
The “cessation of sanctions” will provide Syria “a fresh start”, Trump declared. Trump received al-Sharaa, who at one time swore loyalty to al-Qaeda and rose to power in Syria at the head of a band of opposition rebels, ahead of a summit meeting between the United States and Gulf Arab states.
Photos shared on Saudi state media illustrated them greeting each other in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, popularly referred to as MBS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended Trump and MBS online in the meeting, Turkiye’s Anadolu News Agency noted.
In a statement, the White House stated that in the meeting, Trump requested al-Sharaa to expel Palestinians it termed as “terrorists”, “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel” and “take responsibility for ISIS detention centres in northeast Syria”. On Tuesday evening, Trump had announced that he was removing sanctions on the war-torn nation, receiving acclaim from Arab leaders and festivities on the streets of Syria.
Trump’s promise to remove sanctions can be a turning point of great magnitude for a nation still finding its way after over 50 years of iron-fisted control by the al-Assad dynasty. Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December following a lightning campaign by opposition rebels under al-Sharaa’s command.
Referring in a speech to the nation following his return to Syria from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, al-Sharaa termed Trump’s move to lift sanctions as “courageous” and “daring” since it would “make the Syrian people have a better future and achieve stability in the region
