Trump vows to do everything he can to help Syria after landmark talks with Sharaa

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump vowed on Nov 10 to do everything he can to make Syria successful after landmark talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by Washington as a foreign terrorist.

Mr Sharaa’s visit capped a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad
and has since travelled the world trying to depict himself as a moderate leader who wants to unify and rebuild his war-ravaged country.

One of Mr Sharaa’s chief aims in Washington was to push for full removal of the toughest US sanctions.

While he met with Mr Trump behind closed doors, the US Treasury Department announced a 180-day extension of its suspension of enforcement of the so-called Caesar sanctions, but only the US Congress can lift them entirely.

Mr Trump met with Mr Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where the US leader announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the US said he was no longer a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”

In an unusually muted welcome, Mr Sharaa arrived without the fanfare usually given to visiting foreign dignitaries.

He entered through a side door where reporters only got a glimpse instead of through the West Wing main door where cameras often capture Mr Trump greeting VIPs.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Trump praised Mr Sharaa as a “strong leader” and voiced confidence in him. “We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful,” he said.

But Mr Trump also gave a nod to Mr Sharaa’s controversial past. “We’ve all had rough pasts,” he said.

Mr Sharaa later told Fox News his association with the militant group was a matter of the past and was not discussed in his meeting with Mr Trump.

Syria was now seen as a geopolitical ally of Washington and not a threat, Mr Sharaa said.

Promising “continued sanctions relief,” the Treasury Department announced a new order to replace its May 23 waiver on enforcement of the 2019 Caesar Act, which imposed sweeping sanctions over human rights abuses under Mr Assad.

The move essentially extended the waiver by another 180 days,

Mr Sharaa, 43, took power in 2024 after his Islamist fighters launched a lightning offensive from their enclave in Syria’s north-west and overthrew longtime Syrian President Assad just days later on Dec 8.

Syria has since moved at a dizzying pace, away from Mr Assad’s key allies Iran and Russia and toward Turkey, the Gulf - and Washington.

Security was also expected to be a top focus of Mr Sharaa’s meeting with Mr Trump, who in a major US policy shift has sought to help Syria’s fragile transition.

The US is brokering talks on a possible security pact between Syria and Israel, which remains wary of Mr Sharaa’s former militant ties.

Reuters reported last week that the US is planning to establish a military presence at a Damascus airbase.

Syria recently signed a political cooperation declaration with the US-led “Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State,” the Syrian information minister said in a post on X on Nov 10.

Assassination plots

Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate Islamic State plots to assassinate Mr Sharaa that had been foiled over the last few months, according to a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official.

Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting Islamic State cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects, government media said.

Mr Sharaa’s arrival at the White House was muted.

Most heads of state are driven up the driveway festooned with their national flags on the north side of the presidential compound. But on Nov 10 there was none of that.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was also in the White House to meet Mr Trump administration officials, was invited to join part of the meeting, he told Turkish media.

Following the meeting, Mr Trump sharply rebuked US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said on X that she would “really like to see nonstop meetings at the WH on domestic policy not foreign policy and foreign country’s leaders.”

Saying the Georgia Republican had “lost her way,” he added: “I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation... We could have a world on fire where wars come to our shores very easily.”

As Mr Sharaa left the compound, he exited his motorcade just in front of the White House and briefly greeted a cheering crowd of supporters, some waving Syrian flags.

Mr Sharaa was expected to strongly advocate for a repeal of the Caesar Act, which will help spur global investment in a country ravaged by 14 years of war and which the World Bank estimates will take more than US$200 billion (S$260.58 billion) o rebuild.

Several influential members of Congress have called for the lifting of the 2019 Caesar sanctions, passed in response to human rights abuses under Mr Assad.

A few of Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans want the sanctions to stay in place, but that could change if Mr Trump applies pressure.

Syria’s social fabric has been more recently tested.

New bouts of sectarian violence left more than 2,500 dead since Mr Assad’s fall, deepening civil war wounds and putting into question the new rulers’ ability to govern for all Syrians.

Mr Trump’s focus on Syria comes as his administration seeks to keep intact a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas militants and push forward on his 20-point plan
for an end to the two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

Some of the toughest issues remain unresolved.

Dramatic shifts

Mr Sharaa’s own turnaround is no less impressive than his country’s. He joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 US-led invasion and spent years in US prison there, before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Mr Assad.

In 2013, the US designated Mr Sharaa, then known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, as a terrorist for his ties to Al-Qaeda.

He broke ties with the group in 2016 and consolidated his influence in Syria’s north-west.

The US removed a US$10 million bounty on Mr Sharaa’s head in December, and just last week, the United Nations Security Council lifted terror-related sanctions designations
on him and his Interior Minister Anas Khattab. REUTERS