Trump welcomes Syria’s Sharaa in 1st-of-its-kind visit : NPR
In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, President Trump shakes hands with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14.
Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP
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Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump receives Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, welcoming the once-pariah state into a U.S.-led global coalition to fight the Islamic State group.
It is the first visit to the White House by a Syrian head of state since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in 1946 and comes after the United States lifted sanctions imposed on Syria during the decades the country was ruled by the Assad family. Al-Sharaa led rebel forces that toppled former Syrian President Bashar Assad last December and was named the country’s interim leader in January.
Trump and al-Sharaa — who once had ties to al-Qaeda and had a $10 million bounty on his head from the United States — first met in May in Saudi Arabia. At the time, the US president described al-Sharaa as a “young and attractive man.” A tough guy. A strong past, a very strong past. A fighter.” It was the first official meeting between the United States and Syria since 2000, when former President Bill Clinton met with Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar Assad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday’s visit “is part of the president’s diplomatic efforts to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace.”
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa attends a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, February 4.
Francisco Seco/AP
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Francisco Seco/AP
Trump recently said that Al-Sharaa is “doing a very good job so far” and that “a lot of progress has been made with Syria” since the United States eased sanctions.
An official familiar with the administration’s plans said Syria’s entry into the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group would allow it to work more closely with U.S. forces, even though the new Syrian Army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s northeast were already fighting the group.
Before Al-Sharaa arrived in the United States, the United Nations Security Council voted to lift sanctions against the Syrian president and other government officials, a move that Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said was a strong sign that Syria had entered a new era since the fall of Assad.
Al-Sharaa arrives at the meeting with his own priorities. He wants a permanent repeal of sanctions that punish Syria for numerous allegations of human rights abuses by Assad’s government and security forces. Although Trump has currently lifted the Caesar Act sanctions, a permanent repeal would require Congress to act.
One option is a proposal from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that would end sanctions without any conditions. The other was authored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a hawkish Trump ally who wants to set terms for a repeal of sanctions that would be reviewed every six months.
But advocates argue that any repeal with conditions would prevent companies from investing in Syria because they fear sanctions. Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, likened it to “a hanging shadow that paralyzes any initiative for our country.”
