Trump to lift Syria sanctions, meet with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia
President Donald Trump said his administration would take steps to normalize relations with Syria’s fledgling government.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump announced he will lift sanctions on Syria ahead of his expected meeting in Saudi Arabia with new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech in Riyadh.
“We’re taking them all off,” he said of the web of sanctions the United States has imposed on Syria since the start of its civil war in 2011.
In remarks at a Saudi-hosted investment forum on Tuesday evening, Trump said his administration would take steps to normalize relations with Damascus for the first time in more than a decade.
Trump also “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president on the sidelines of his meetings in Riyadh on Wednesday, a White House official told Al-Monitor, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The meeting is a remarkable turnaround for Sharaa, the former Islamist insurgent who five months ago led a coalition of rebel groups to topple Syria’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
The Trump administration has avoided official engagement with Sharaa, whose group — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — remains a US-designated terrorist organization due to its past association with al-Qaeda.
Trump announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Syria’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, on the margins of a NATO meeting in Turkey later this week.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Trump said. “I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”
Trump arrived in the Saudi capital on Tuesday, the first stop in a high-profile trip to the Middle East that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The three Gulf states have urged Washington to unwind the layers of sanctions that have limited their ability to provide financial support to the country’s fledgling government.
More than 13 years of civil war, rampant government corruption and Western sanctions have left Syria isolated from the global financial system. Over 90% of Syrians live below the poverty level, and one in four are unemployed, according to the United Nations.
Trump said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was in the audience and gave Trump a standing ovation, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had each encouraged him to ease sanctions on Syria.
The United States has labeled Syria a state sponsor of terrorism since 1979 and intensified sanctions on the country beginning in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on peaceful protests against its iron-fisted rule.
Sanctions were expanded under the bipartisan Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, which penalized individuals and companies that did business with the Syrian government or its oil and gas, aviation and construction sectors. Despite Assad’s fall, Congress in late December extended those sanctions through 2029.
Trump could likely unwind most sanctions via execution action. While Congress would need to repeal the Caesar Act to permanently remove its sanctions, Trump could issue waivers to suspend their enforcement.
This developing story has been updated.
