Latest news with #AlSharaa
Russia Today
3 days ago
- General
- Russia Today
Syrian leader threatened by militants who put him in power
The insurgents who toppled previous Syrian leader Bashar Assad's government and brought new interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to power could now threaten his political survival, the Washington Post wrote on Saturday. Multiple militant groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power in Damascus late last year. They included thousands of foreign fighters who remain in Syria, some of whom have ties to extremist groups like Islamic State and other radical factions, the newspaper wrote. While al-Sharaa 'seems intent on keeping' some of them around as he courts Western support, the 'hard-line Sunni Muslim militants' are already giving him trouble, WaPo wrote. Some of the militants were involved in massacres of Alawites along the Syrian coast in March, the outlet added. At least 1,300 people, including 973 civilians, were killed in the span of a few days, according to local media. Christian and Druze communities in Syria have also reportedly faced bloody sectarian violence since the change in power. The most radical of the foreign Islamists are 'turning their ire' on al-Sharaa, because the new president has not implemented Sharia law and allegedly cooperated with the US and Türkiye to target extremist factions in Syria, WaPo wrote. Earlier in May, US President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa and announced the lifting of sanctions, most of which had been imposed during the rule of Assad. Al-Sharaa has called Trump's move 'a historic and courageous decision, which alleviates the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth, and lays the foundations for stability in the region.' Shortly after the Trump-Sharaa meeting, a top ideologue of Salafi jihadism, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, issued a fatwa branding the new Syrian leader an 'infidel.' Syria remains a hotbed of extremist activity and could destabilize at any time, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The country has become 'a playground for jihadist groups, including ISIS and others,' the top diplomat warned last week, adding that it could be 'weeks – not many months – away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war.'
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Saudi foreign minister meets Syrian President Al Sharaa during official visit
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa during an official visit on Saturday, May 31, Al Arabiya reported. Prince Faisal, who arrived in the capital Damascus, is leading a high-level economic delegation aimed at bolstering bilateral cooperation with Syria. The delegation includes Mohammed bin Mazyad Al Tuwaijri, Advisor at the Royal Court, Abdulmohsen bin Saad Al Khalaf, Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Abdullah bin Ali Al-Dubaikhi, Assistant Minister of Investment, Abdullah bin Fahd bin Zarah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Economic and Development Affairs. This visit comes amid ongoing regional efforts to reintegrate Syria into the Arab diplomatic fold and foster long-term stability and development in the region. In April, Al Sharaa had met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. The UAE President reiterated the UAE's firm position towards supporting Syria's unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Earlier in May, the United States lifted comprehensive economic sanctions on Syria, marking a dramatic policy shift following the end of Bashar al-Assad's regime and opening the door for new investment in the war-torn country. Saudi Arabia
Qatar Tribune
25-05-2025
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
Syria's Al Sharaa meets Erdogan in Turkiye as sanctions lifted
Agencies Istanbul Syria's interim President Ahmed Al Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted. The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye's state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in the country's largest city on Saturday. Erdogan's office said the Turkish president told Al Sharaa his country welcomes the lifting of the sanctions. He also said that 'Israel's occupation and aggression in Syrian territory is unacceptable' and that Turkiye will continue to oppose it on every platform, according to a statement on X. The presidency said in a short statement released through state media that the leaders discussed 'a number of mutual files'. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation Director Ibrahim Kalin, and the secretary of Turkish Defence Industries, Haluk Gorgun, were part of the talks, which were closed to the press. Al Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani. The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria. Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria's recovery after years of civil war. The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a 'positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country'. Trump's special envoy to Syria, the current US ambassador to Turkiye, Thomas Barrack, said he met Al Sharaa on Saturday in Istanbul and praised the leader 'taking meaningful steps' so far regarding foreign fighters and relations with Israel. The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar Al Assad's father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the Al Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country's civil war, which killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the Al Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.
Arab News
20-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
How President Trump's Middle East tour signaled a bold reset in US foreign policy
LONDON: Standing ovations and scenes of jubilation are not normally witnessed at investment forums. But there was nothing normal about the speech President Donald Trump delivered at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh last week. Speaking at the beginning of a four-day tour of the region, Trump's geopolitical surprises came thick and fast. 'After discussing the situation in Syria with the (Saudi) crown prince,' he said, 'I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.' The last few words were almost drowned out by the wave of applause, which was followed by a standing ovation led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Although the announcement came as a big surprise to most, including seasoned analysts and even some in Trump's inner circle, it was not entirely unexpected. In December, for the first time in a decade, US officials had flown to Damascus, where they met with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the commander of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, which just two weeks earlier had led the dramatic overthrow of the Bashar Assad regime after 14 years of civil war. As a result of that meeting, after which the US delegation said it had found Al-Sharaa to be wholly 'pragmatic,' the US removed the longstanding $10 million bounty on his head. A month later, Al-Sharaa was appointed president of Syria. The day after last week's investment forum in Riyadh, Trump sat down for a face-to-face meeting with Al-Sharaa that produced what might well prove to be one of the most historic photographs in the region's recent history: the Saudi crown prince, flanked by Trump and Al-Sharaa, standing in front of the flags of the US, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. The photograph sent a clear message: For the US, and for a region all too often subject to the whims of its largesse and military approbation, all bets were off. The day before, Trump had more surprises for his delighted audience at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center. 'I have never believed in having permanent enemies,' the president said, and 'I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound, which obviously they are in the case of Iran.' He praised local leadership for 'transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past' and criticized 'Western interventionists … giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs.' In a message that will have echoed loudly in Kabul, Baghdad, and even Tehran, he added: 'In the end, the so-called 'nation-builders' wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.' Responding to Trump's announcements, Sir John Jenkins, a seasoned diplomat who served as British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Syria, and as consul-general in Jerusalem, told Arab News: 'I think this could be a real turning point. 'Post-Arab Spring demographics — lots of young people wanting a better life and better governance but not wanting to get there through ideology or revolution — and Mohammed bin Salman, Trump, and Syria have all come together at a singular time.' Trump's speech last week in Riyadh, he said, 'was extraordinary, an intellectually coherent argument, and he means it. 'If you can form a cohesive bloc of Sunni states — the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the rest of the GCC, Jordan, Syria and Egypt — which all aim in different ways to increase prosperity and stability instead of the opposite, then you potentially have a bloc that can manage regional stability and contain Iran in a way we haven't had for decades. And that gives the US the ability to pivot.' But a lot could still go wrong. 'Iran, which is already trying hard to undermine Syria, will continue to play games,' said Jenkins. 'And then there's Israel itself: Does it want strong and stable Sunni neighbors or not? It should do, but I'm not sure Bezalel Smotrich (Israel's far-right finance minister, who this month vowed that Gaza would be 'entirely destroyed') and Itamar Ben-Gvir (the minister of national security who is pressing for Israel to seize and occupy Gaza) think so. That's a headache for Israel's Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu. 'But if you hook all this up to a possible US-Iran deal, which will give Iran incentives not to have sanctions come crashing back down, then there's something there.' For Al-Sharaa, even six months ago, the dramatic turnaround in his personal circumstances would have seemed fantastic, and as such is symptomatic of the tectonic upheavals presaged by Trump's visit to the region. Almost exactly 12 years ago, on May 16, 2013, the then-leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, judged responsible for 'multiple suicide attacks throughout Syria' targeting the Assad regime, had been designated as a terrorist by the US Department of State. Now, as the very public beneficiary of the praise and support of Trump and the Saudi crown prince, Al-Sharaa's metamorphosis into the symbol of hope for the Syrian people is emblematic of America's dramatic new approach to the region. In Doha, the president chose the occasion of a visit to a US military base to make nice with Iran, a country whose negotiators have been quietly meeting in Oman with Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, to discuss a nuclear deal. 'I want them to succeed,' said Trump, who in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from the original deal, fashioned by President Barack Obama and European allies, and reimposed economic sanctions. Now, he said in Doha last week, 'I want them to end up being a great country.' Iran, he added, 'cannot have a nuclear weapon.' But, in a snub to Israel, which has reportedly not only sought US permission to attack Iranian enrichment facilities, but has even asked America to take part, he added: 'We are not going to make any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we're getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.' In fact, Trump's entire trip appeared to be designed as a snub to Israel, which did not feature on the itinerary. A week ahead of the trip, Trump had announced a unilateral ceasefire deal with the Houthis in Yemen, who had sided with Hamas after Israel mounted its retaliatory war in Gaza in October 2023. Under the deal, brokered by Oman and with no Israeli involvement, the US said it would halt its strikes in Yemen in exchange for the Houthis agreeing to stop targeting vessels in the Red Sea. On May 12, the day before Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia, Hamas released Edan Alexander, the last surviving US citizen held hostage in Gaza, in a deal that came out of direct talks with no Israeli involvement. In a post on Truth Social, Trump celebrated 'a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war.' Trump, said Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli soldier and a senior teaching fellow in King's College London's Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, 'threw Netanyahu, in fact Israel, under the bus. 'He totally surprised Netanyahu with a series of Middle Eastern diplomatic initiatives, which, at least from an Israeli perspective, hurt — indeed, humiliate — Israel,' he told Arab News. 'In the past, if one wished to get access to the White House, a good way to do so was to turn to Israel, asking them to open doors in Washington. Not any longer. Netanyahu, hurt and humiliated by Trump, seems to have lost his magic touch. 'Trump despises losers, and he probably regards Netanyahu as a loser, given the Gaza mess and Netanyahu's failure to achieve Israel's declared aims.' It is, Bregman said, Trump's famously transactional approach to politics that is shifting the dial so dramatically in the Middle East. 'Trump looks at international relations and diplomacy through financial lenses, as business enterprises. For Trump, money talks and the money is not to be found in Israel, which sucks $3 billion dollars a year from the US, but in the Gulf states. 'Trump is serious about America First, and Israel doesn't serve this aim; the Gulf states do. For now, at least, the center of gravity has moved to the Gulf states, and the Israeli status in the Middle East has weakened dramatically.' For Ibrahim Al-Marashi, associate professor at California State University, San Marcos, the events of the past week stand in sharp contrast to those during Trump's first presidency. 'During the first Trump administration, World War Three almost broke out, with aircraft carriers from my native San Diego deployed continuously to the Gulf to deter Iran, the (Houthi) strike on Saudi Aramco, and the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad at the beginning of 2020,' he told Arab News. 'Five years later, the Trump administration seems to be repeating the Nixon-Kissinger realist doctrine: 'America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.' In that regard, his administration might forge relations with Iran as Nixon did with China.' Kelly Petillo, program manager for the Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, likewise views last week's events as the beginning of 'a new phase of US-Gulf relations.' Among the remarkable developments is 'Israel's relative sidelining and the fact that Israel does not have the privileged relationship with Trump it thought it had,' she told Arab News. 'The US agenda now is wider than unconditional support to Israel, and alignment with GCC partners is also key. 'Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have clearly become of key strategic importance to the US, with new deals on the horizon and the promise of expanding these relations. The announcements of more commercial ties have been accompanied with political declarations too, which overall represented positive developments for the region.' Ultimately, said Caroline Rose, a director at the New Lines Institute, 'Trump's visit to the GCC highlighted two of his foreign policy priorities in the Middle East. 'Firstly, he sought to obtain a series of transactional, bilateral cooperation agreements in sectors such as defense, investment and trade,' she told Arab News. 'The second objective was to use the trip as a mechanism that could change conditions for ongoing diplomatic negotiations directly with Iran, between Hamas and Israel, and even Ukraine and Russia.' It was, of course, no accident that Trump chose the Middle East as the destination for the first formal overseas trip of his second presidency. 'The Trump administration sought to court Gulf states closely to signal to other partners in the region, such as Israel, as well as the EU, that it can develop alternative partnerships to achieve what it wants in peace negotiations.' Although a strategy to move forward with specific peace negotiations was 'notably absent during his trip,' it was clear that 'this trip was designed to lay the groundwork for potential momentum and to change some of the power dynamics with traditional US partners abroad, sowing the seeds of goodwill that could alter negotiations in the Trump administration's favor.'
Arab News
20-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Trump's Gulf tour: Engineering a new regional order or managing crises?
President Donald Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar last week marked a pivotal moment in US Middle East policy and signaled a profound shift in the region's emerging political landscape. As his first foreign tour during his second term in office, the trip aimed to secure massive investment and defense deals, while proposing new approaches to the long-standing crises in Syria, Gaza and Yemen — anchored in a pragmatic vision in which influence and transactional gains are seen as pathways to stability, rather than regime change. For the US, the visit yielded major gains: more than $3.2 trillion in investment commitments from Gulf states, including one of the largest civilian aviation deals in history with Qatar, the expansion of Al Udeid Air Base and the solidification of the US' military presence in the Gulf. Trump's administration emphasized a deal-oriented approach, focusing on deterring Iran, enforcing ceasefires and engaging with emerging regional players — even controversial ones, such as Syria's new leadership under Ahmad Al-Sharaa. Saudi Arabia emerged as the central Arab powerbroker, orchestrating the historic meeting between Trump and Al-Sharaa that led to Washington lifting sanctions on Syria. Riyadh also secured record-breaking economic and defense deals and welcomed a de-escalation in Yemen that aligned with its goal of ending the prolonged conflict. The Kingdom asserted itself as the engine of a new regional order, capitalizing on Iran's declining influence. The US took a deal-oriented approach, focusing on deterring Iran, enforcing ceasefires and engaging with emerging regional players Dr. Abdellatif El-Menawy The UAE reinforced its status as a technological and financial hub, pledging $1.4 trillion in US investments and benefiting from relaxed export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence technologies. Abu Dhabi supported Washington's regional agenda while promoting its image as a beacon of tolerance and modernization. Qatar leveraged the visit to reaffirm its role as a strategic ally. It played a key role in Gaza ceasefire efforts and hostage mediation, sealed a massive aviation deal with Boeing and modernized Al Udeid Air Base. Politically, Qatar positioned itself as a trusted mediator among all parties, maintaining autonomy while aligning with the broader Gulf consensus. On the front of regional issues, Syria took center stage. The unanticipated meeting between Trump and Al-Sharaa marked a turning point: the US announced the lifting of sanctions on Damascus, signaling the end of the Assad era. Al-Sharaa, a former militant turned political leader, pledged to expel foreign fighters, unify Syria and pursue eventual normalization with Israel. This US-backed endorsement, facilitated by Saudi and Turkish support, redefined the Syrian file and sent shock waves through traditional alliances. In Gaza, no political breakthrough was achieved. Instead, the focus remained on a humanitarian ceasefire, prisoner swaps and rebuilding efforts, led by Qatar and Egypt. Trump's controversial proposals for 'resettling' Gaza's population in wealthy Arab countries were flatly rejected by the Gulf states, which instead advocated for reconstruction within Gaza and under Palestinian Authority oversight — though without a clear political horizon. Trump's overtures to Arab capitals sent a clear message: US interests in the region may no longer be tied solely to Israel's preferences Dr. Abdellatif El-Menawy The Iran file reflected a delicate balance: Trump publicly reinforced sanctions while quietly reopening diplomatic channels, notably through Oman, to explore a potential nuclear agreement. A 'shadow ceasefire' was reached in Yemen, with the US pausing airstrikes on the Houthis in exchange for an end to Red Sea attacks. This convergence of Yemen and Iran strategies underscored a mutual desire to avoid full-scale conflict without conceding strategic ground. Meanwhile, the visit accelerated the formation of a new regional order, anchored by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkiye, with US backing. This emerging coalition has effectively sidelined Iran and — more surprisingly — Israel. Tel Aviv was notably absent from all meetings and Trump's overtures to Arab capitals without coordinating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a clear message: US interests in the region may no longer be tied solely to Israel's preferences. Iran, on the other hand, is facing strategic retreat, having lost ground in Syria, Yemen and Gaza. While engaging in backchannel diplomacy, Tehran remains under pressure to show flexibility on its nuclear and regional policies — without yet receiving guarantees on sanctions relief. Trump's Gulf tour delivered immediate economic and diplomatic dividends but fell short of resolving deep-rooted conflicts. Syria may be on a new path under Al-Sharaa and Yemen has a fragile ceasefire, but the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains politically stagnant. What has emerged is a recalibrated Middle East architecture shaped by Gulf assertiveness, strategic realignments and American deal-making. However, the broader question remains: Are these arrangements the foundation of lasting peace or merely a sophisticated exercise in crisis management?
