Trump meets Syria

President Trump met Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with the interim president of Syria, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, highlighting the impressive reversal in fortune for a former Islamist militant with links with Al Qaeda, who spent years with a government account of the United States. Al-Shara’s rebel forces led the load on Damascus last year that knocked down the rule of Syrian iron decades Bashar al-Assad dictorand since then it has been installed as the head of a government that is presented to the world as inclusive and democratic.

Trump’s decision to meet with Al-Sharaa, after some European leaders have done the same, it could be a great boost for the new Syrian government, since he tries to rebuild ties with the western world. These relations have been marked by sanctions and abrasing acrimony during and after the bloody Civil War of the Middle East, which began in 2011.

“Jóven, attractive type, hard guy, past strong,” Trump told Al-Sharaa journalists aboard Air Force one after the meeting.

In a reading on the meeting of two leaders in Saudi Arabia, the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said Trump had told the Syrian leader that “he has a great opportunity to do something historical in his country”, and urged him to join Saudi Arabia to sign in Abraham’s agreements with support from the United States, to normalize Israel.

Trump also told Al-Sharaa that he should “tell all foreign terrorists who leave Syria; Palestinian terrorist sport; help the United States avoid the resurgence of ISIS” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in the northeast of Syria,” according to Leavitt.

They joined in their meeting for the host of Mr. Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the de facto ruler of the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, known as MBS, and by phone by Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The meeting took place one day after Trump announced during his visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh that his administration would raise the sanctions of the United States against Syria, “to give them a chance of greatness.”

“The sanctions were brutal and paralyzing, and served … an important function, however, at that time, but now it is their [Syrians’] It’s time to shine, “Trump said in a speech on Tuesday.” I say good luck, Syria. Show us something very special. “

In his reading on Wednesday, Leavitt said that “President Erdogan praised President Trump for raising the sanctions to Syria and promised to work with Saudi Arabia to encourage peace and prosperity in Syria. The heir prince also praised President Trump for his decision to raise the sanctions, calling him Cortous.”

She said Al-Sharaa had thanked Mr. Trump, together with MBS and Erdogan, “for their efforts to gather the meeting, and recognized the significant opportunity presented by the Iranians who left Syria, as well as shared the interests of the United States in counteracting terrorism and eliminating chemical weapons.”

The “Iranians” mentioned by the White House seemed to be a reference to the sponsors of the Assad regime expelled in Tehran.

“President Al-Sharaa concluded with his hope that Syria would serve as a critical link to facilitate trade between the East and West, and invited US companies to invest in oil and Syrian gas,” Leavitt said.

The White House said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would also meet with Syrian Foreign Minister in Türkiye at the end of this week.

Trump became Wednesday in the first president of the United States to meet with a Syrian leader since Bill Clinton met with Assad’s father, Hafez Al-Assad.

A former insurgent, Sharaa amounted to power last year when the Assad government collapsed quickly in the period of several days, which put an abrupt end to the civil war of more than the decade that devastated Syria.

The Sharaa previously led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an Islamist rebel group that fought against the Assad regime and had its roots in the Nusra front almit allied by Al-Qaeda. Sharaa also participated in the insurgency against US forces in Iraq in the 2000s.

Until last year, the United States had a reward of $ 10 million in Sharaa due to its leadership of HTS, which is designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.

Syrian-American activist Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the non-profit organization of the Syrian emergency task force, is helping to rebuild the cut ties, and states that Al-Sharaa is “100% a changed man.”

“I mean, well, let’s judge him for his actions,” Mustafa told News themezone Wednesday. “… I am not here to say that any of these decisions in its paintings is non -existent. But the fact is that this is a man changed. And this is a person who is not interested in anything but reconstructing the country, and wants to see peace with all the neighbors, wants to stay out of war with everyone in the Middle East.”

Despite the collapse of the Assad government, many of the intense US sanctions imposed on Syria during the last 13 years of Assad reign have remained in place. The Trump administration seems to be pressing for normalized relations with the new government in Syria in the hope that it can help stop the Iranian influence in the country and the Middle East in general, despite the roots of Sharaa. extremism.

Saudi Arabia has also begun to build a relationship with the Government of Sharaa, a measure that could also be directed to limit the influence of the Archrival of the archivative of the Kingdom, which together with Russia, helped Assad in its fight against the rebels during the civil war.

However, the key ally of the United States Israel has been more cautious with Sharaa and has continued the air attacks against the objectives within Syria, which angry the Sharaa government.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham urged caution and said that the White House should go through the appropriate channels of Congress to relieve sanctions against Syria. Graham arrived in Türkiye on Tuesday to meet with US and Turkish officials about the situation in Syria.

“I am very inclined to support the relief of sanctions for Syria in the right conditions,” Graham said in a statement. “However, we must remember that the current leadership in Syria achieved its position through the force of weapons, not through the will of its people. I know that the Trump administration has provided guidance to Syrian officials about the conditions that must be met before any sanction can be relieved.”

Graham said he was “sure that Congress would need to be informed of the changes in the conditions imposed on Syria and how they have fulfilled these conditions before Congress may make an informed decision on whether or not to approve the change in the designation.” He also said that Israeli officials were “extremely concerned” about the “game state in Syria.”

“Examining the sanctions approved by Congress is a complicated process,” said Graham. “While I would like to empower new players in Syria, it must be done in a coordinated manner with our allies, especially our friends in Israel, so that numerous security concerns can be addressed.”

Trump was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first stop of his four -day trip to Middle East. It is the first foreign trip of Trump’s second term. It will include stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates at the end of this week.

The President Observations delivered At an investment summit in the United States in Riad, the capital of Saudi Arabia, when the White House announced an investment of $ 600 billion of Saudi Arabia, including what it promoted as the “largest defense sales agreement in history.”

In:
• Donald Trump
• Saudi Arabia
• Trump administration
• Syria

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.