It’s an image that would have been shocking, even a few months ago: US president Donald Trump shaking hands with Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a fighter for al-Qaeda in Iraq, imprisoned by the Americans, now interim president of Syria.
Getting sanctions lifted is the greatest achievement of al-Sharaa’s presidency so far
The pair met in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, alongside their respective foreign minsters, for 33 minutes, the Syrian presidency said. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was there too; Turkey’s president Erdogan joined them on the phone.
Before their meeting, Trump announced in a speech yesterday that he would remove all economic sanctions on Syria to give the country a chance at ‘greatness.’ Ever since the fall of the Assad regime in December, Syrians have campaigned for this moment. The former regime, against whom the sanctions were directed, is gone. What use is there keeping the economic pressure on a new government, a nation reborn?
Syria’s economic situation is grim.
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