US President Donald Trump said he would move to normalize relations with the new Syrian government, lift sanctions and give the country a “opportunity for peace.”
Trump was scheduled to meet with Syrian interim president Ahmad Al-Shara, the former rebel force that led the attack that overthrew longtime leader Bashar al-Assad last year.
Trump said the reconciliation efforts came to encourage Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan.
“We have a new government that hopefully succeeds,” Trump said of Syria, adding, “Good luck, Syria. Show me something special.”
This development is a major boost to the Syrian president who was imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the rebellion following the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
Alshara was nominated as Syrian president in January. This was a month after the lightning strikes by a rebel group led by Hayat Taharil al-Sham (HTS), when Damascus ended the 54-year rule of the Arsad family.
The US has weighed and looked at how he handled Alshara since he came to power.
Gulf leaders have gathered behind the new Damascus government, hoping that Trump will follow, be a breakwater against his return to influence in Syria, and have supported the al-Assad regime during a decade-long civil war.
Former US President Joe Biden has left Trump the decision, whose administration has not yet officially recognized the new Syrian government.
The sanctions imposed on Damascus under al-Assad remain.
“The president agreed to greet the Syrian president while he was in Saudi Arabia tomorrow,” the White House said before Trump’s remarks.
Changes in tone
The comment showed a noticeable change in tone from Trump, bringing him to conflict with longtime US ally Israel.
Alshala, formerly known to Abu Mohamed Al Golani, has joined the ranks of al-Qaeda rebels fighting US troops in Iraq after a US-led invasion in 2003, facing a warrant for arrest on terrorist charges in Iraq.
Al-Shara once provided $10 million (8.9 million euros) for information about his whereabouts for links with Al-Qaeda, but after leading an al-Qaeda branch known as the Nusra Front after the conflict began in 2011, he returned to his home country.
He later changed his group’s name to Hayat Taharil al-Sham (HTS) and cut out a link with al-Qaeda.
Alshara is set to become the first Syrian leader to meet the US president since the late Hafez al Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
Syria historically had its connection with Washington since the Cold War era when Damascus was closely linked to the Soviet Union and then Syria became Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world.
Removal of the Al-Assad family may change its track.
London-based Syrian analyst Ibrahim Hamidi said the meeting between Trump and Alshara indicates “strategic change” of the country that was forced to leave Iran and Russia.
“The Syrian American conference in Riyadh opens the gates to begin discussing the issue of discordance between them in a two-sided atmosphere of dialogue,” said Al Majara, editor-in-chief of Arab magazines. “This is important.”
