President Donald Trump waived sanctions on Syria on Monday after meeting with President Ahmed al-Shara at the White House, the latest effort to throw his support behind the former rebel leader who had once been designated a terrorist by the US, with a $10-million bounty on his head.
It was al-Shara’s first visit to the US capital since coming to power and the first by any Syrian head of state to the White House.
“We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful, and I think this leader can do it,” Trump said. “People say he’s had a rough past? We’ve all had rough pasts. But he has had a rough past, and I think frankly if he didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance.”
Trump has granted Syria wide exemptions on sanctions and pushed for Congress to repeal a 2019 law, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which imposed the toughest sanctions on Syria. On Monday, he issued a 180-day extension on a waiver that he had first granted in May.
Syria also agreed to join a global coalition to defeat the Islamic State, which remains active in Syria, according to a Trump administration official who discussed details of the meeting on the condition of anonymity. The US will also allow Syria to resume work at its embassy in Washington that is focused on counterterrorism, security and economic cooperation.
The rebel coalition al-Shara led toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad in December, ending a brutal dictatorship of more than 50 years by the Assad family. Al-Shara has since redefined himself as a statesman while seeking to return Syria to the international fold and rebuild the country as it emerges from a long and devastating
civil war.
But there were signs on Monday of the administration’s apprehension over a leader that the US once considered to have ties to a terrorist group.
Al-Shara was not given the usual pomp and circumstance that comes with a foreign leader visiting the White House. Trump did not greet him outside the White House upon his arrival, and al-Shara entered their meeting through a side door.
Despite the subdued greeting, Trump praised al-Shara after the meeting.
“I like him; I get along with him,” Trump said. “We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East.”
The remarks were probably welcomed by al-Shara, given that a recent World Bank report estimated the cost of Syria’s reconstruction at $216 billion.
New York Times News Service