Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Arab News Agency)
United States President Donald Trump on May 14 urged Syria’s Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords by normalizing relations with Israel, the White House announced after the two leaders met in Riyadh.
Trump also asked Sharaa to “deport Palestinian terrorists” and tell foreign fighters to leave the country, as well as to take control of camps for captured ISIS fighters, currently run by Kurdish forces, according to the White House.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia, which was the first between the leaders of the two countries in more than 25 years, came after Trump’s announcement that he would lift all sanctions on Syria and move to restore ties with Sharaa a day earlier. The U.S. President said that the decision came at the Saudi and Turkish leaders’ urging.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and, by video, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended Trump’s meeting with Sharaa, alongside other officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One after the meeting, Trump said the new Syrian leader, who created a formerly al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group, is a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Trump said, adding: “I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.”
Syria’s foreign ministry hailed the meeting with Trump as “historic,” but did not mention anything about the Abraham Accords.
The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan between 2020 and 2021.
It’s worth noting that Israel invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights – recognized by Trump as a part of Israel in 2019 – right after the fall of the Assad regime last December.
Exactly a week earlier, Sharaa confirmed that his government was engaged in indirect talks with Israel after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. An earlier report by Reuters revealed that the talks began after al-Sharaa’s visit to the UAE on April 13, and focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two neighboring countries.
Israel launched earlier this month a series of strikes on Syria, including one that hit the vicinity of the presidential palace in Damascus, as a message to Sharaa in response to threats by the government against the Druze religious minority. The country had vowed to protect Syrian Druze, citing historic ties with its own Druze community.
Sharaa appears to be enthusiastic about a peace deal with Israel, possibly because he sees it as a sure way to secure his role. However, Israel remains cautious.
The Associated Press revealed on May 14 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Trump not lift U.S. sanctions on Syria while visiting Washington last month. An Israeli official who spoke to the news agency said the request was made out of concern that a cross-border attack similar to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault, could come from the war-torn country.
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like john mccain before him, trump shaking hands with a terrorist, smh. 🤦
anything about the hanging of trump, genocider ?
apparently bibi installing a genuine terrorist into syrian leadership now makes syria a wonderful government and more free american taxpayer money will be given away to buy more weapons and death. withholding the truth from the american people is highly effective at getting their subordination to their own depopulation. bibi is an accomplished luciferian 👏
and usa can continue to pump syria dry🛢️🛢️🛢️
this socalled president really looks like the guy in the movie the dictator and is controlled by you know who🤡
how sick, don’t forget this guy juliani was in a us prison in iraq he was deputy head of al qaeda which was led by al zarquari remember him terrorist number one, then all of a sudden they released him and he turns up in syria where he waged war on the assad government, i believe the americans turned that asshole either bribed or threatened him now he is a zionist and us puppet.
trump, same; as the the old boss. not fooling anyone.
soon western media and politicians will call the syrian terrorist leader, defender of freedom and democracy and western values.