During his current Middle East tour, US President Donald Trump met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which rules Syria, and urged him to end hostilities and establish closer ties with Zionist Israel. Trump met Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, the first stop on his tour, after announcing that the US would ease sanctions on Syria.
According to a post by the White House Press Secretary on X, Trump urged Syria to establish relations with Zionist Israel, similar to the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain. Although Trump also pushed Saudi Arabia to strengthen ties with Israel during this trip, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly made it clear that it will not do so until the Jewish terrorist state stops its genocidal attacks in Gaza and a free Palestinian state is established.
Western powers and the Arab world, in addition to the US, have imposed sanctions on Syria in connection with its civil war. The war ended after 14 years with the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in a coup. Assad’s government was overthrown by HTS, a terrorist organization. Syria is currently ruled by an HTS government. The presidency is held by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the group. With the overthrow of the government, Assad fled to Russia and sought protection in Moscow.
Trump said that although there were concerns about previous terrorist activities carried out by HTS, he had decided to ease sanctions. He also said that this meeting with Sharaa was a beginning and that they were looking into establishing relations with the HTS government.
