U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the first such encounter between the leaders of those two countries in 25 years.
The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family.
Trump had announced the day before as he kicked off his three-nation Middle East tour in Riyadh that he would also move to lift U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria under former autocrat Bashar al-Assad.
The meeting on Wednesday was remarkable given al-Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, had ties to al-Qaeda and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was imprisoned by U.S. troops there for several years, and later during the Syrian war the FBI offered a reward for his capture.
I am “ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start,” Trump told the Gulf Cooperation Council after his meeting with al-Sharaa. “It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.”
The nation of Qatar has offered to gift U.S. President Donald Trump a 747 jet worth roughly $400 million, saying it’s OK because the plane isn’t for him directly. CBC’s Eli Glasner breaks down the problems with accepting a ‘free jet.’
The Trump-al-Sharaa meeting took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement.
Al-Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
The White House later said the meeting ran for just over 30 minutes, making al-Sharaa the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
Bashar al-Assad, who was given sanctuary by Russia after fleeing Syria, never met any of the four U.S. presidents from his tenure of 2000-2024, though he met with a few U.S. politicians who visited Syria, including Tulsi Gabbard, current director of national intelligence, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance,” Trump said of Syria. “It’s not going to be easy anyway, so gives them a good strong chance. And, it was my honour to do so.”
He added: “We made a speech last night, and that was the thing that got the biggest applause from the room.”
Reconstruction estimated at $250B US
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the meeting between Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and al-Sharaa via a phone call. Turkey was a main backer to al-Sharaa and his rebel faction.
Trump cited the intervention of Saudi Prince Mohammed, who he praised effusively in a speech on Tuesday, as key to his decision.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump urged al-Sharaa to diplomatically recognize Israel, “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria” and help the U.S. stop any resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Trump also asked for the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for detention centres holding Islamic State fighters, Leavitt added.
Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decade-long civil war.
With the World Bank estimating Syria’s reconstruction costs at more than $250 billion US, Sharaa wants sanctions relief to kickstart an economy battered by 14 years of civil war. During that period, the U.S., European Union and Britain imposed tough sanctions on the Assad government.
The EU has lifted some sanctions, and last week Emmanuel Macron hosted Sharaa in Paris, with the French president calling sanctions on Syria an “obstacle” to the country’s recovery.
But longtime U.S. ally Israel has been deeply skeptical of al-Sharaa’s extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. The request came during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last month, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject.
Israel was concerned a cross-border attack similar to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault, could come from Syria. Israel also fears al-Sharaa and his Islamist past could pose a threat on its northern border.
Trump’s move draws cheers from Syrians
Syrians cheered the announcement by Trump that the U.S. will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation.
The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country’s capital, Damascus. Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration.
People whistled and cheered as fireworks lit the night sky.
A statement from Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday night called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”
It was careful to describe the sanctions as coming “in response to the war crimes committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people,” rather than the war-torn nation’s new interim government.
“The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.
Trump was to head to Qatar, the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour this week.
