President Trump said on Tuesday that he would move to normalize relations and raise sanctions against the new Syrian government to give the country “a chance of peace”.
Mr. Trump was to meet on Wednesday Saudi Arabia With Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the insurmination of the Onerie who led last year the overthrow of the former leader Bashar Assad. He said the rapprochement effort had come at the request of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto Saudi sovereign and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“There is a new government which, we hope, will succeed,” said Mr. Trump about SyriaAdding: “I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”
The developments were a major boost for the Syrian president who, at one point, was imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurrection after the invasion of the Arab country led by the United States in 2003. Al-Sharaa was appointed president of Syria in January, a month after a superb insurgent group offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS DE Assault Damascus ending the 54 -year rule of the Assad family.
The United States weighs how to manage Al-Sharaa since it took power in December. Gulf leaders joined the new government in Damascus and wanted Trump to follow, saying it was a rampart against Iran’s return to Syria, where it helped support the government of Assad during a decade civil war.
The president of the time, Joe Biden, left the decision to Trump, whose administration has not yet officially recognized the new Syrian government. The sanctions imposed in Damascus under Assad also remain in place.
“The president agreed to say hello to the Syrian president when he was in Saudi Arabia tomorrow,” said the White House before Mr. Trump’s remarks.
The comments marked a change in your hit by Mr. Trump and put him in contradiction with the long-standing ally of Israel, which was deeply skeptical about the extremist past of Al-Sharaa and warned against the rapid recognition of the new government.
Formerly known by the name of war Abu Mohammed al-Golani, Al-Sharaa joined the ranks of the Al-Qaeda insurgents who fight against the American forces in Iraq after the invasion led by the United States in 2003 and still confront a mandate for its arrest for accusations of terrorism in Iraq.
Al-Sharaa, that the United States offered $ 10 million for information on its fate due to its links with Al-Qaida, returned to its country of origin after the start of the conflict in 2011 where it led the Al-Qaida branch which was known as the Nusra front. He then changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and cut links with Al-Qaida.
Al-Sharaa should become the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since the late Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
Mr. Trump was in Saudi Arabia Tuesday for the first stop of his four-day trip to the Middle East. The trip is Mr. Trump’s first of his second term and later this week, he will go to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The president presented remarks at an American-Saudi investment summit in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, while the White House announced an investment of $ 600 billion in Saudi Arabia, including what he presented as “the biggest history defense agreement”.
