Soon after President Donald Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the White House said he was prepared to meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda and Islamic State lieutenant who has governed Syria since his insurgent alliance toppled dictator Bashar Assad in December.
President Trump said on Tuesday he was willing to lift sanctions on Syria.
Sharaa was very eager to meet with Trump, having offered oil and gas deals to the United States, peace with Israel, and even permits for a new Trump Tower in Damascus if President Trump would receive him. The White House said Sharaa would travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for the meeting.
Sharaa and his insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have struggled to convince the West they are a new breed of kinder, gentler Islamists who would set aside their old jihadi and terrorist ways to govern Syria responsibly. Sharaa desperately wants Western nations to lift the sanctions that were imposed on Syria during Assad’s long and brutal war to stay in power, so that postwar rebuilding can begin in earnest.
Western leaders have been very wary around embracing the former al-Qaeda man who now styles himself as the “interim president” of Syria. When Sharaa visited Paris in early May to meet with President Emmanuel Macron, the French opposition criticized Macron for betraying “all victims of jihadism” by greeting the Syrian leader with a “handshake of shame.”
Western observers have been hesitant to trust Sharaa’s promises that all of Syria’s many ethnic and religious minorities would be fully protected under his administration. Syrian Christians have been threatened by the jihadis in Sharaa’s rebel coalition. The Alawites, the minor sect of Shia Islam that Assad belonged to, have been attacked since Assad’s downfall, prompting fears they could be oppressed or exterminated in revenge for the favored treatment they received from the Assad dictatorship.
Another group called the Druze sought protection from Israel after they were persecuted. The Syrian Kurds fear they will have no representation in the central government. Last month, Sharaa refused Kurdish demands for a decentralized model of government that would give them more autonomy.
Thus far, the most enthusiastic foreign support for Sharaa has emanated from Turkey, whose authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants cooperation from Damascus to neutralize Kurdish militias that Turkey sees as a major threat. Turkey began calling for the world to lift sanctions against Syria within days of the rebellion driving Assad into exile.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf oil states have also expressed support for the new Syrian government. Sharaa thanked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) for his support during a phone call on Sunday. MBS restated his commitment to Syria’s “security and stability,” and discussed building stronger economic ties between the two countries.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Saudis “had been pushing hard” for Trump to give Sharaa a meeting during his visit. Neither Saudi nor U.S. sources offered any details about the length or agenda of the prospective meeting.
Palestinian media sources claimed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would also join the meeting between Trump, Sharaa, and MBS.
President Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh on Tuesday that MBS persuaded him it was time to lift the crushing economic sanctions on Syria, which had served their purpose in weakening the Assad regime.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off,” Trump said.
“Good luck Syria, show us something very special,” he said.
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