US Lifts Major Sanctions on Syria Amid Historic Meeting Between Presidents
The United States has issued a new waiver lifting the most serious sanctions against Syria, coinciding with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington. On Monday, al-Sharaa met with President Donald Trump at the White House, highlighting Damascus’s efforts to strengthen economic ties with the West following the fall of former Pr
esident Bashar al-Assad. Al-Sharaa’s rise from a former al-Qaeda leader to Syria’s interim president has drawn global attention, as he seeks to cultivate friendly relations with the United States. The Syrian presidency stated that the discussions between al-Sharaa and Trump focused 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.” Trump praised al-Sharaa after the meeting, saying, “He comes from a very tough place, and he’s a tough guy. I like him. 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.” While Trump has hailed the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza as a historic step toward peace, Israel continues daily attacks across the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon. Al-Sharaa previously led armed opposition forces in December of last year to overthrow al-Assad and bring an end to Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011 as a popular uprising against the former president.