RIYADH: US President Donald Trump requested Syria’s new chief on Wednesday (Might 14) to normalise relations with Israel after he supplied a serious increase to the war-ravaged nation by asserting the lifting of sanctions.
Trump, on a state go to to Riyadh, grew to become the primary US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader – Ahmed al-Sharaa, an erstwhile extremist guerrilla and onetime militant as soon as on a US wished record who led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December.
The interim Syrian president and Trump, sporting matching fits, shook fingers as they met collectively with Saudi Arabia’s de facto chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and, by video hyperlink, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the important thing supporter of the brand new authorities in Damascus.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia had each advocated reconciliation with Syria however the transfer is the newest to place Trump at odds with Israel, which has voiced pessimism over Sharaa and ramped up strikes to degrade the longtime adversary’s army capabilities.
The White Home stated that Trump requested the Syrian chief to normalise relations with Israel by becoming a member of the so-called Abraham Accords signed by some Gulf Arab states.
Trump additionally requested Sharaa to deport Palestinian militants and inform overseas fighters to depart the nation, in addition to to take management of camps for captured Islamic State group fighters, at the moment run by Kurdish militants opposed by Türkiye, the White Home stated.
Syria’s overseas ministry hailed the assembly as “historic”, however didn’t point out the Abraham Accords. Syrian state media additionally didn’t point out normalisation.
The overseas ministry stated the leaders mentioned “avenues for Syrian-American partnership in counterterrorism efforts” and the significance of lifting sanctions and supporting reconstruction.
After the longer-than-expected half-hour assembly, Trump stated the Assad-era sanctions had been “actually crippling” on Syria.
“It is not going to be straightforward anyway, so it provides them a very good, robust probability, and it was my honour to take action,” Trump stated, addressing Gulf Arab leaders.
