White House as US extends sanctions relief

United States President Donald Trump has held talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House, as the Department of the Treasury announced suspending sanctions against Damascus for a further six months.

The meeting on Monday capped a stunning year for al-Sharaa, a 43-year-old former al-Qaeda commander who toppled the longtime hardline leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, last December.
Al-Sharaa, who wants to unify his war-ravaged nation and end its decades of international isolation, was the first ever Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country’s independence in 1946.

The Syrian presidency said al-Sharaa and Trump held talks “focusing on bilateral relations between Syria and the United States, ways to strengthen and develop them, and a number of regional and international issues of common interest”.

For his part, Trump heaped praise on al-Sharaa after the meeting.

“He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I like him,” Trump said of the Syrian president.

“We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East. We have peace now in the Middle East – the first time that anyone can remember that ever happening.”

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

Al-Sharaa later told Fox News that his association with al-Qaeda was a matter of the past and was not discussed during his meeting with Trump. Syria is now seen as a geopolitical ally of Washington and not a threat, he added.
‘Muted welcome’
The meeting between the two leaders came six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where Trump announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the US said that al-Sharaa was no longer a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.
Al-Sharaa, who was captured by US forces in Iraq during Washington’s occupation of the country, later led al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.

His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, split from al-Qaeda in 2016. But the US, less than a year ago, had a $10m reward for information leading to al-Sharaa’s arrest.

Since removing al-Assad, al-Sharaa has further reinvented his image, dropping the name he was also known as, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, for his birth name and promoting a tolerant and inclusive Syria. The interim leader addressed the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year, saying that his country is “reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world” and has sought to strengthen economic ties with the US and the European Union.

Still, al-Sharaa received a muted welcome at the White House on Monday. He entered the White House through a side door and was not greeted by Trump outside. And there was no photo opportunity in front of the press or joint news conference between the two leaders.

As al-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.Shortly afterwards, a senior US official told The Associated Press and AFP news agencies that Syria has formally confirmed that it would join the global coalition against the armed group ISIL (ISIS), becoming its 90th member.

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the US would also allow Syria to resume operations at its embassy in Washington so the two countries can better coordinate on counterterrorism, security and economic issues.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

Such a move could pave the way for the withdrawal of US troops from the country.

Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate ISIL plots to assassinate al-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 Ministry of Interior launched a nationwide campaign targeting ISIL cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects, state media said.

‘Chance at greatness’
The new sanctions relief announced by Washington on Monday suspends punitive measures under the Caesar Act, which prohibited US business dealings with the Syrian government and military, for an additional 180 days.

“Removing US sanctions will support Syria’s efforts to rebuild its economy, provide prosperity for all its citizens, including its ethnic and religious minorities, and combat terrorism,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement.