Foreign Policy: Trump is using al Sharaa to secure a new ally in the Middle East
The Foreign Policy published an article about the meeting between former US President Donald Trump and his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al Sharaa.
The Foreign Policy newspaper said Trump received Sharaa at the White House on Monday, the first visit by a Syrian president to Washington in nearly eight decades.
The visit is particularly significant given Sharaa’s history as a former al Qaeda leader in Syria, and is a major shift in relations between Washington and Damascus after years of estrangement and tension.
The Foreign Policy explained that Sharaa hopes to use his image as a strongman to sign a deal with the United States that leads to the permanent lifting of sanctions on Syria.
In 2019, Trump imposed sanctions on Damascus under the Caesar Act, with the aim of punishing the Syrian regime for what Washington called serious human rights violations under Bashar al Assad.
However, last June, Trump issued a decision to suspend those sanctions, stressing that the goal is to give Syrians a new chance to return to their greatness.
During the meeting, Trump sought to assuage Sharaa’s demands with the US Treasury Department’s announcement of the suspension of most sanctions on Syria, with the exception of transactions involving both Russia and Iran.
But Sharaa aspires to a lasting solution that requires congressional approval, something that could be difficult given the reluctance of US lawmakers, who are demanding that Damascus take concrete steps, such as ensuring religious pluralism and improving relations with Israel.
For his part, Trump hopes to take advantage of the new rapprochement with Syria to expand the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State, which includes 89 countries, including the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces (SDF).
Trump is also seeking to push Damascus toward normalizing relations with Israel, which is part of the Abraham Accords’ plans to strengthen Arab countries’ relations with Israel.
In addition, Trump hopes to establish a US military presence at Damascus’s Mazzah Air Base and build Trump Tower in the Syrian capital.
Some in Washington believe that this meeting represents a real test of the future potential of rapprochement between the two countries after decades of hostility.
In addition, both the United States and Syria are looking to achieve political and economic gains that could help reshape relations between the two countries in the coming period.
