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Damascus cheers in new era as U.S.-Syrian presidents meet in Riyadh

Published: 14 May. 2025, 17:52

This combination of photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump, left, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 13 and Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Ankara, Turkey, on Feb. 4. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump sitting with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family. People across Syria cheered in the streets and let off fireworks Tuesday night to celebrate, hopeful their credit card and global finance blocked nation might rejoin the world's economy when they need investment the most.

It’s also remarkable given al-Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. It follows Trump, long a critic of America's once-called “forever wars” in the Middle East, after the 9/11 attacks of 2001, offered an anti-interventionist speech before the Saudi public as well.

Trump on Tuesday announced the meeting, saying the United States also would move to lift economic sanctions on Syria as well. Syria even before its ruinous civil war that began in 2011 struggled under a tightly controlled socialist economy and under sanctions by the United States as being a state-sponsor of terror since 1979.

The meeting took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement. The White House did not immediately say who else was in the meeting or provide any other details on the conversation.

Trump said he was looking to give Syria, which is emerging from more than a decade of brutal civil war “a chance at peace” under al-Sharaa.

Al-Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.

The United States has been weighing how to handle al-Sharaa since he took power in December.

Syrians celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria on May 13. [AP/YONHAP]

Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decade-long civil war.

But longtime U.S. ally Israel has been deeply skeptical of al-Sharaa’s extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. However, Trump cited the intervention of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as key to his decision.

The White House earlier signaled that the Trump and al-Sharaa engagement, on the sidelines of a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh convened as part of Trump’s four-day visit to the region, would be brief, with the administration saying the U.S. president had “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president on Wednesday.

Al-Sharaa is the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.

Syrians cheered the announcement by Trump that the United States will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation.

A girl holds a Saudi flag in celebration after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans during his visit to Saudi Arabia to ease sanctions on Syria and normalize relations with its new government, in Homs, Syria on May 13. [AP/YONHAP]

The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country’s capital, Damascus. Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration.

People whistled and cheered at the news as fireworks lit the night sky.

A statement from Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued Tuesday night called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”

The statement also was careful to describe the sanctions as coming “in response to the war crimes committed by the Assad regime against the Syrian people,” rather than the war-torn nation’s new interim government.

“The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.

AP