President Trump said on Monday that he’s considering lifting sanctions on Syria as the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly Abu Mohammed al-Jolani), is looking to make a deal with the US.
Trump said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked the US to lift sanctions on Syria. “We’re going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start,” he said.
US sanctions on Syria have had a devastating impact on the civilian population and were imposed to aid in the regime change effort. Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in 2021 that it was the policy of the US to “oppose the reconstruction of Syria until there is irreversible progress toward a political solution.”
Sharaa, who founded al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria and later rebranded it as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), recently met with US business leaders in Damascus and offered to take a series of steps to get sanctions relief.
According to a Reuters report, Sharaa has suggested an economic deal that would give the US access to Syria’s oil and gas and the building of a Trump tower in Damascus. He has also said that Syria could potentially normalize relations with Israel.
Israel celebrated the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, because he was an ally of Iran. But since then, the Israeli military has invaded southern Syria and is planning an indefinite occupation of the recently captured territory using the alleged threat of the HTS-led government as a pretext.
The Israeli military has also conducted heavy airstrikes across Syria and recently bombed areas near the presidential palace in Damascus in a threat to Sharaa, even though he’s been open to normalizing relations with Israel.
Despite Israel’s aggression, Sharaa continues to make clear he’s open to a normalization deal, something President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has previously suggested.
Both Trump and Sharaa will be in Saudi Arabia this week, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is reportedly trying to set up a meeting between the two leaders. Sharaa is designated as a terrorist by the US due to his al-Qaeda history, and HTS is still on the US’s list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.”
