Historic meeting: Trump meets with Syrian president after announcing the end of sanctions

BeirutUS President Donald Trump met with Syria's interim president on Wednesday, Ahmed al-Sharaa, for more than half an hour after announcing yesterday the lifting of all sanctions on the new Damascus government to give it "an opportunity to grow." On the endless carpets of the Royal Palace in Riyadh, hand-woven with geometric motifs evoking the solemnity of power, Trump and Al Sharaa, accompanied by the crown prince and leader de facto of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, have posed together for the press in a very studied and symbolically charged image.

Trump displayed a broad smile and his hands open in a welcoming gesture; Bin Salman wore his impeccable white clothes covered by a light brown tunic, with a restrained expression, in an attempt to act as a mediator at a time of redefining alliances in the Middle East. Al Sharaa, the man who for years led the Islamist insurgency in Syria, wore a dark suit and a sober tie that presented him as head of state and a new player in the political game of the region.

The scene occurred during the second day of Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, after he announced, during his speech at the Future Investment Forum the day before, the lifting of sanctions in Syria and declared the beginning of "a new chapter full of opportunities." He made no explicit reference to Ahmed al-Sharaa's past as leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda, or to the US role in years of bombing and sanctions, but made clear that pragmatism once again prevails over old principles.

Rapprochement with Israel

However, this symbolic gesture does not come without demands. Washington expects the new Syrian leadership to make concrete progress toward normalization with Israel and greater security cooperation. At the meeting, attended by Bin Salman and attended online by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump told Al Sharaa that it had "a historic opportunity" to transform his country and urged it to join the Abraham Accords framework. He also asked it to assume control of the Islamic State detention centers in northeast Syria, deport Palestinian fighters, and collaborate in preventing a new jihadist surge.

Al Sharaa, who met with Emmanuel Macron in Paris last month, welcomed the lifting of sanctions and stressed that his country seeks to attract foreign investment, restore basic services, and reintegrate into the regional economic circuit. In statements reported by Arab media, he confirmed that Syria has initiated indirect contacts with Israel and expressed his willingness to "seriously explore" a diplomatic path to reduce decades-long tensions. "Our commitment is to the stability of Syria and the region," he asserted, in a tone that marks a shift from the intransigent rhetoric of previous stages. According to US Congressman Cory Mills, who met days before the summit, Al Sharaa would be willing to consider future accession to the Abraham Accords if certain security conditions in the south of the country are guaranteed.

Although for now the movements are cautious, what has been projected in Riyadh has been the image of a pragmatic leader, seeking to reposition himself as a valid interlocutor in a regional scenario crossed by new alliances and the fatigue of more than a decade of war.

The meeting in Riyadh is part of a broader tour by Donald Trump in the Middle East, which seeks to reposition the United States as a guarantor of stability and a key economic player in the region. After Saudi Arabia, the president traveled to Qatar. Saudi Arabia has deployed its full support for Donald Trump, and Doha is expected to follow suit. However, his visit to the Qatari kingdom will be marked by a growing scandal in Washington: the Democratic opposition accuses him of having received "the largest foreign bribe in recent history" after accepting a Boeing 747-8 from the Qatari royal family as a temporary replacement for their plane.

Questions about the details

However, beyond the gestures and words, the challenges for Syria remain enormous. The reconstruction of entire cities, the demining of vast rural areas, the restoration of basic services and the return of the millions of refugees who fled during more than a decade of conflict They constitute a to-do list that no diplomatic gesture can immediately resolve.

Syria has lived under US sanctions since 1979, although they were relaxed when Damascus collaborated with the United States in the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein's regime. The majority of the population, which is very young, has always lived under some US sanctions regime. However, it is not clear how the restrictions will be lifted: some depend only on an executive order from the president, but others, which are under the so-called Caesar law—named after the photographer who revealed tens of thousands of images of torture in the regime's prisons—require a more complex process.

Several international organizations have warned that the lifting of sanctions must be accompanied by concrete guarantees regarding human rights, justice, and transparency in the use of funds. Furthermore, Al Sharaa's past generates suspicion in many Western capitals, which are calling for Guarantees that the Syrian transition will not lead to a new form of authoritarianismToday, Saudi and American pragmatism seems to have overlooked this debate, focusing their efforts on containing Iran and opening new markets. The fighter. More concrete questions about his return home, whether there will be work, and whether peace will be real this time. Geopolitics continues its course, although in Syria, as always, things move more slowly.