United States President Donald Trump says Washington is considering the normalisation of ties with Damascus after he met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years,
Al Jazeera reports.
Trump made the announcement on Wednesday at a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, during which he also said the US will drop “all sanctions” against Syria.
“With the support of the great leaders in this room, we are currently exploring normalising relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump said, confirming his brief meeting with al-Sharaa.
The “cessation of sanctions” will give Syria “a fresh start”, Trump said.
“We will be dropping all sanctions.”
Trump met al-Sharaa, who once pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and swept to power in Syria at the head of a group of opposition fighters, before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
Photos posted on Saudi state media showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined Trump and MBS virtually in the meeting, Turkiye’s Anadolu News Agency reported.
In a statement, the White House said that during the meeting, Trump asked al-Sharaa to deport Palestinians it described as “terrorists”, “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centres in northeast Syria”.
