Trump says he will relieve sanctions to Syria, will restore relations with the new leader

Riad, Saudi Arabia (AP) – President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will relieve sanctions to Syria and move to normalize relations with his new government to give the country a “peace” opportunity.

Trump made the announcement shortly before he met Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with the Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the insurgent of last year’s time led the overthrow of the leader of veteran Bashar Assad. Trump said the approach effort occurred at the request of the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“There is a new government that hopefully will succeed,” Trump said about Syria, adding: “I say, good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”

The developments were a great boost for the Syrian president, who had been imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurgency after the 2003 invasion led by the United States of the Arab country. Al-Sharaa was appointed president of Syria in January, a month after an impressive offensive by insurgent groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS of Al-Sharaa, who assaulted Damascus, which ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.

The United States has been wearing how to drive Al-Sharaa since he took power in December. Gulf leaders have recovered behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing that he is a bulwark against Iran’s return to the influence in Syria, where he had helped support Assad’s government during a civil war of a decade.

The then President Joe Biden left the decision to Trump, whose administration has not yet formally recognized the new Syrian government. The sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place.

Before Trump spoke, the White House said he had “agreed to greet” the Syrian president while in Saudi Arabia.

Via News

The comments marked a surprising change in Trump’s tone and disagreed with the former ally of the United States Israel, which has been deeply skeptical of the extremist of Al-Sharaa and warned against the rapid recognition of the new government.

Previously known by Guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani’s name, Al-Sharaa joined the ranks of the Al-Qaida insurgents who fight against US forces in Iraq after the invasion led by the United States and still faces an arrest warrant against terrorism charges in Iraq. The United States once offered $ 10 million to obtain information about its whereabouts due to its links to Al-Qaida.

Al-Sharaa returned to his country of origin after the conflict began in 2011 and led the Al Qaida branch that used to be known as the Nusra front. Later he changed the name of his group A Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links to Al-Qaida.

He is ready to become the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.

Historically, Syria has had relations with Washington since the days of the Cold War, when Damascus had close links with the Soviet Union and later when Syria became the closest ally of Iran in the Arab world. The elimination of the Assad family could change the track.

Ibrahim Hamidi, a Syrian-based Syrian analyst in London, said Trump’s planned meeting with Al-Sharaa marks a “strategic change” for the country.

“Syrian-American meetings in Riad open the door so that the two parties begin to discuss issues of disagreement between them in a positive atmosphere,” said Hamidi, editor-in-chief of the Arab magazine to the Majalla. “This is important.”