Latest news with #USSyriaRelations
CNN
18-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
On GPS: Trump's shock move to lift Syria sanctions
Fareed discusses the future of US-Syria relations with former State Department official Richard Haass and Randa Slim of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
CNN
18-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
On GPS: Trump's shock move to lift Syria sanctions
Fareed discusses the future of US-Syria relations with former State Department official Richard Haass and Randa Slim of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
The National
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Turkey says US could leave Syria as ties warm
Live updates: Follow the latest on Trump's Gulf trip Turkey suggested on Thursday that a reconciliation between the US and Syria could lead to a full withdrawal of American troops from Syrian territory. Any decision would depend on US President Donald Trump's assessment of the situation after he lifted sanctions on the new regime in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said. 'If the circumstances that caused this army to be in Syria are gone, then too the consequences,' said Mr Fidan. 'This is tied to the assessment of Mr Trump to the situation.' US troops intervened in Syria in 2014 to support the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces in the north-east of the country, near the border with Turkey. The US helped established the SDF as the ground component of its fight with ISIS, drawing the ire of Ankara. US officials said last month that about 600 troops would be withdrawn from the country, leaving fewer than 1,000 behind. But Mr Trump has not ordered a full withdrawal. In a surprise announcement during his Gulf trip, Mr Trump said the US would lift sanctions that were mostly imposed on the former Bashar Al Assad regime after its suppression of protests in 2011 that escalated into a civil war. On Wednesday, Mr Trump met Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara in Riyadh, coming face to face with a former militant leader who was once an American prisoner. Mr Al Shara led the offensive that ousted the Assad regime in December. Mr Fidan was meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani on Antalya on Thursday to discuss the next stages of sanctions relief. He said they would follow up on the Trump-Al Shara meeting, which was also attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Fidan said the US troop presence was one of many issues to be tackled in Syria, but did not say it would specifically be raised on Thursday. 'I do not think there will be any problems in the US withdrawing its forces from Syria,' if that was the decision, he said. In Riyadh on Wednesday, Mr Trump and Mr Shara and discussed counter-terrorism co-operation. The meeting was a crucial boost to the fledging order in Damascus and efforts to halt Iranian expansionism in the Middle East. 'We always strive to fight ISIS and other terrorist organisations. We will continue with the same policies in the coming period,' Mr Fidan said. A European diplomat said the meeting was 'not good news for the Kurds in particular'. He said the potential for a US new alliance with Damascus would render the SDF less useful to Washington and make the US more responsive to Turkish demands to dissolve the group, a goal also shared by Mr Al Shara. In March, Mr Al Shara signed a signed a deal with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi to end hostilities and for all armed groups in eastern Syria to join the new state. Mr Fidan said the deal means that the Kurdish Protection Forces, the main component of the SDF, must disband.
