Syria's Islamic Hayat tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group led a lightning rebel attack to snatch Damascus from government control, Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani addressed a group of people at Landmark Umayyad Mosque on December 8, 2024.
Abdulaziz Ketaz | AFP | Getty Images
The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia and then headed to Qatar on Wednesday, a day after Washington announced the lifting of U.S. sanctions on countries where the war broke out.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman oversaw the meeting, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined by phone.
"President Trump thanked President Erdogan for his friendship with the crown prince and told President al-Sharaa that he had a great opportunity to do historic things in his country," White House readers said.
Readers say Trump “encourages President al-Sharaa to do a good job for the Syrian people.” These include signing an Abraham agreement with Israel to tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, expel Palestinian terrorists, helping the United States prevent the revival of the Islamic State group and taking responsibility for the latter’s detention center in northeastern Syria.
Syria has been designated as a terrorist country by the U.S. government since 1979. In about 14 years since then, the country has suffered damage from civil war, sectarian violence and brutal terrorist attacks
In December, the fall of the Assad regime shocked the global community and brought about a new beginning for devastating nations during the shock offensive of anti-Assad militia groups. Syria's new president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda member, described himself as a reform and currently leading the country's transitional government.
White House officials said Saudi Arabia and Türkiye played a key role in persuading Trump to lift sanctions on Syria and meeting with al-Sharaa. In recent years, even before Assad was ousted, many Arab and Muslim countries have called for the reintegration of Syria into the Arab fold.
"I will order the sanctions on Syria to stop so that they can give them a great opportunity," Trump said at the US Sudi Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday.
"Suffering so much pain and death in Syria, there is a new government that will hopefully be successful in stabilizing the country and maintaining peace. That's what we want to see," the U.S. president said.