Trump Meets Syria’s New Leader as US Lifts Sanctions
US President Donald Trump met Wednesday in Riyadh with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during the first leg of a Middle East tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The meeting came one day after President Trump announced that the US would lift longstanding sanctions on Syria, a move he said was encouraged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” President Trump said Tuesday in a foreign policy speech in Riyadh. The 33-minute meeting with al-Sharaa, attended by the crown prince and joined remotely by Erdoğan, marked a significant diplomatic shift.
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Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a successor to Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate. He assumed Syria’s presidency in January after HTS-led fighters overran Damascus, ending more than five decades of Assad family rule. The US once offered $10 million for al-Sharaa’s capture due to his role in the Iraq insurgency. He has since renounced ties to al-Qaida.
The lifting of sanctions imposed during the Bashar Assad era drew criticism from US allies, including Israel, which views the new Syrian leadership with suspicion. Both the Biden and Trump administrations had maintained the sanctions until now, citing concerns over al-Sharaa’s past.
After the meeting, President Trump participated in a summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council before departing for Qatar, where Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will host a state visit. Qatar has offered to gift the American president a luxury Boeing 747-8 to serve temporarily as Air Force One. In a social media post, President Trump defended the offer: “Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done?”
