President Donald Trump hinted that Syria could possibly join several agreements, which include joining an anti-ISIS coalition and the Abraham Accords, after meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday.
While taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked how his meeting went with Sharaa. Trump described Sharaa as a “very strong leader” and a “tough guy.” Trump also indicated that his administration wanted to “see Syria be successful.”
“Could you update us on your meeting? Did you come to any agreements?” a reporter asked Trump.
“He’s a very strong leader, he comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy,” Trump said. “I like him. I get along with him — the President, the new President of Syria. We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East.”
Trump also noted that there was “peace now in the Middle East” for the first time that people could remember, and described Syria as being a “very big part of the Middle East.”
“Can we expect an announcement on a pact between Syria and Israel or an announcement on them joining the anti-ISIS coalition?” another reporter asked Trump.
“Yes, you can expect some announcements on Syria,” Trump responded. “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful, and I think this leader can do it. I really do. I think this leader can do it. And, people said he’s had a rough past. We all have rough pasts. But, he has had a rough past, and I think, frankly, if you didn’t have a rough past you wouldn’t have a chance.”
Trump’s comments come after he and Sharaa, the head of the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), met as part of a larger campaign by Sharaa to prove he seeks to transform Syria into a “peaceful, inclusive, and trustworthy democracy.”
Breitbart News’s John Hayward reported:
Sharaa quietly entered the White House through a side entrance on Monday and remained inside for about an hour and a half. He was greeted by a crowd of several hundred supporters upon his departure, many of them waving Syrian flags. Neither the White House nor Sharaa’s office issued an immediate public statement about the meeting, nor have any details surfaced at press time.
The stakes for the visit were high, as the former al-Qaeda officer and wanted terrorist Sharaa sought to convince the Western world he can complete the transition to a peaceful, inclusive, and trustworthy democracy.
Several lawmakers such as Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), who serves as the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) issued statements in which they shared that they had met with Sharaa on Sunday.
“Last evening, the new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and I broke bread,” Mast said in a press release. “We had a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS, and extremism.”
Mast added that he and Sharaa are “two former soldiers and two former enemies,” and that he had asked Sharaa why they were “no longer enemies.”
“His response was that he wishes to ‘liberate from the past and have a noble pursuit for his people and his country and to be a great ally to the United States of America,’” Mast added in his statement.
In a post on X, Wilson shared a photo with Sharaa and shared that he was “grateful” to have met with him.
“A free, united, prosperous Syria is the biggest opportunity since the end of the Cold War,” Wilson wrote in his post. “We must give Syria a chance and achieve a COMPLETE and TOTAL repeal of Caesar.”
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