Syria has made ‘tremendous progress’ under al-Sharra: Trump

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed Syria's "tremendous progress" in the last 11 months under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

"As you know, the leader of Syria was just here. We had a great meeting, and he's strong guy, and I guess you need a strong person to run it. And I think Syria has made tremendous progress," Trump said as he hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.

"We did lift the sanctions at the request of the crown prince. Also, the president of Turkey, (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan, called me specifically. He said, 'You know, if you don't lift the sanctions, Syria doesn't have a chance. If you do, they have a very good chance.' And between the two of them and some others, I lifted the sanctions, and the results so far been pretty good," Trump added.

Since former President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster last year, Syria has been seeking to expand cooperation with regional and international partners, including the US, in various fields and lift economic and political sanctions amid efforts to rebuild the war-torn nation after more than a decade of civil war.

A series of US sanctions have already been lifted, including the delisting of senior Syrian officials from UN and US terror-related sanctions.

The lifting of remaining sanctions, particularly the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, appears to have won support from pivotal lawmakers, including the Republican and Democratic heads of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

While the administration can wave them for 180-day periods, as Trump did last week ahead of al-Sharaa's visit, their full removal requires action from Congress.