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Donald Trump has met with Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, just a day following his announcement that the US would lift sanctions on the country and possibly restore relations.

This development represents a significant shift in Washington’s perspective on Syria after Sharaa’s Islamist movement spearheaded a rebel offensive that dethroned dictator Bashar al-Assad and concluded his family’s over five-decade dynastic rule over the Arab nation.

“We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump expressed on Wednesday while addressing a gathering of Gulf leaders in the Saudi capital.

Trump said his decision, first announced the previous night at a Saudi-US investment forum, came after consulting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in order to give Syrians a “fresh start”.

Trump added that the way forward for Syria was “not going to be easy anyway” but that he felt strongly that removing the sanctions would give them a better chance to succeed and “it was my honour to do so”.

The Saudi crown prince said he welcomed Trump’s decision to lift sanctions, adding that it “will help alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people and open a new page towards growth and prosperity”.

The move by Washington will boost Sharaa as he battles to consolidate his administration’s control over the fragmented nation.

After Trump’s announcement, many Syrians took to the streets of the capital, Damascus, honking their car horns in celebration.

Syrians and Arab states have urged western powers to lift all Assad-era sanctions on the country and have warned that reviving the bankrupt economy is the most challenging task facing Sharaa’s transitional government. 

The Syrian leader and his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement, which dominates the new government and security forces, are designated terrorists by the US due to past affiliations with al-Qaeda. 

But Sharaa renounced his ties to al-Qaeda in 2016 and has pledged that his government will be an inclusive administration that respects all of Syria’s sects and minorities. 

The UK and the EU have lifted some sanctions, while the US has issued waivers to permit trade in humanitarian goods and allow Qatar to pay public sector salaries in Syria. 

If Washington lifts all its sanctions, it would pave the way for others to follow.

The move is likely to anger Israel, which has deployed troops in Syria, seized territory in the country’s south and repeatedly launched air strikes against Syrian military facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly described Sharaa’s government as a “jihadist regime”.

 However, Trump said: “There is a new government that will hopefully succeed.”

“I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special,” he added.

Trump’s visit to the Middle East comes as the region endures its most sustained and deadly period of conflict in decades in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 2023 and the Israeli military’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza. 

Arab leaders have been urging Washington to put more pressure on Israel to end its 19-month war in Gaza. 

Additional reporting by Raya Jalabi in Beirut and Sarah Dadouch in Damascus