Trump meets Syria’s interim president after pledging to elevate sanctions

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, spending about half an hour talking with him on the sidelines of a go to to Saudi Arabia.

The assembly was added to Trump’s schedule as he introduced he would elevate U.S. sanctions towards Syria, a transfer hailed by Syria’s international minister as “pivotal” to rebuilding a rustic devastated by greater than a decade of civil conflict and worldwide isolation.

“The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful,” Trump stated in remarks to the Gulf Cooperation Council. He stated lifting the sanctions would Syria “a chance for greatness.”

“It’s not going to be easy anyway. So it gives them a good, strong chance, and it was my honor to do so,” Trump stated, noting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had requested him to take away sanctions.

Trump inspired Sharaa to normalize relations with Israel by signing on to the Abraham Accords, and urged him to discourage terrorism, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on social media. The White Home posted a picture of the assembly, however reporters touring with Trump weren’t allowed within the room.

The U.S. had slapped sanctions a number of occasions on Syria over the previous 20 years, aimed on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who had taken over the nation following the dying of his father, Hafez al-Assad. Hafez had dominated Syria for many years with an iron fist.

However the sanctions had remained in place after Assad fled the nation in December within the wake of a shock lightning marketing campaign led by Sharaa and his coalition of insurgent fighters. Sharaa was himself on the U.S. listing of designated terrorists on the time for his previous hyperlinks to al-Qaida and Islamic State, however that designation was swiftly eliminated as Sharaa vowed to construct an inclusive society with safety for all of Syria’s myriad ethnic and spiritual minorities.

The sanctions, nevertheless, remained in place as many international locations had been nonetheless cautious of his previous. A sequence of lethal clashes between factions loyal to Sharaa’s authorities and ethnic minorities raised fears that he could attempt to keep his rule by pressure.

However Sharaa has proven himself to be an in a position diplomat, and has toured the Arab world and different nations attempting to ease these fears and lift assist for an finish to sanctions and his efforts to rebuild the nation. This month, he flew to Paris to satisfy President Emmanuel Macron, who has additionally referred to as for an easing of sanctions.

Sharaa and people round him have even hinted at pleasant ties with Israel, which has been finishing up a sequence of airstrikes inside Syria because the fall of the Assad regime, at first saying it needed to keep away from weapons falling into the palms of extremists, after which to guard the Druze minority who stay on either side of the Israel-Syria border, and who’ve fought clashes with Sunni factions allied with the brand new authorities. Israeli troops have additionally taken over positions alongside the border with the Israel-controlled Golan Heights that had been as soon as held by Syrian forces, a transfer Israel says is to guard its personal territory.

Trump’s announcement Monday that he deliberate to elevate the sanctions, which have starved Syria of desperately wanted worldwide funding, was met with extended applause on the Saudi funding discussion board the place he was talking, an accolade led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself.

The sanctions had threatened to pressure Syria to hunt monetary assist from Russia, which had allied itself with the previous regime and whose conflict planes had bombed opposition-held cities. Moscow took in Assad and his household and nonetheless has two army bases inside Syria.

Gulf states are eager to put money into Syria, which has vital mineral and oil reserves, however had been prevented from doing by the U.S. restrictions.