Donald Trump became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader yesterday after he offered sanctions relief in hopes of offering a new path to the war-battered country.
Trump, in Riyadh on the first state visit of his second term, met Ahmed Al Sharaa, who became interim president after the December fall of longtime strongman Bashar Al Assad.
The two held brief talks ahead of a larger gathering of Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia during Trump’s tour of the region, a White House official said.
No US president has met a Syrian leader since Bill Clinton saw Hafez Al Assad, Bashar’s father, in Geneva in 2000 in a failed effort to persuade him to make peace with Israel.
Trump announced on Tuesday that he was lifting “brutal and crippling” Assad-era sanctions on Syria in response to demands from Sharaa’s allies in Türkiye and Saudi Arabia – in his latest step out of tune with US ally Israel.
Trump said it was Syrians’ “time to shine” and that easing sanctions would “give them a chance at greatness.”
Syrians celebrated the news, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square.
The Syrian foreign ministry called Trump’s decision a “pivotal turning point” that would help bring stability.
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