{"id":308728,"date":"2025-05-15T06:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=308728"},"modified":"2025-05-17T07:03:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T07:03:30","slug":"trump-meets-syrias-attractive-tough-president-after-lifting-us-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=308728","title":{"rendered":"Trump meets Syria\u2019s \u2018attractive, tough\u2019 president after lifting US sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Introduction \u2013 May 15, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The following report illustrates how the Trump administration and the mainstream media are working in tandem to confer respectability and political legitimacy on a man who only a few years ago was considered a \u201cterrorist\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The West may have once blacklisted him but the leader of the al Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra, Ahmed al-Sharaa has been used to replace Syrian President Assad with a leader more amenable to western interests.<\/p>\n<p>In the process Ahmed al-Sharaa\u2019s past affiliations are being airbrushed out while President Trump fawns over a new Middle East puppet in the making. Ed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"5vz0lqRqp4\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=300526\">How ex-Daesh and al-Qaeda leader al-Jolani became West\u2019s blue-eyed boy in Syria<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How ex-Daesh and al-Qaeda leader al-Jolani became West\u2019s blue-eyed boy in Syria&#8221; &#8212; The Truthseeker\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=300526&#038;embed=true#?secret=DEpXeyT2Sr#?secret=5vz0lqRqp4\" data-secret=\"5vz0lqRqp4\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"rRgjo8ccCN\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=231036\">More proof of US supporting al-Qaeda in Syria<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;More proof of US supporting al-Qaeda in Syria&#8221; &#8212; The Truthseeker\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=231036&#038;embed=true#?secret=1ZPip8M3BW#?secret=rRgjo8ccCN\" data-secret=\"rRgjo8ccCN\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Trump meets Syria\u2019s \u2018attractive, tough\u2019 president after lifting US sanctions \u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>William Christou \u2013 The Guardian May 14, 2025<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Donald Trump has met Syria\u2019s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia, telling the former jihadist he had an \u201cextraordinary opportunity\u201d, and said Washington is exploring normalising ties with Damascus, a day after an announcement that all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted.<\/p>\n<p>The US president met Sharaa, a former militant who fought against US forces in Iraq and had a $10m US bounty on his head <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c07gv3j818ko\">until December 2024<\/a>, alongside the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for about half an hour before a conference of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as part of his four-day visit to the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first meeting between a US and a Syrian president for 25 years and a key milestone for Syria\u2019s reintegration into the international arena after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime. Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One after the meeting that Sharaa was a \u201cyoung, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharaa later hailed Trump\u2019s decision to lift sanctions as \u201ca historic and courageous decision, which alleviates the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth and lays the foundations for stability in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a late-night television address, he said: \u201cSyrians, the road before us is still long. Today we begin the real work, with which modern Syria will be reborn.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_301527\" style=\"width: 279px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Syria-new-leader.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-301527\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt wp-image-301527 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Syria-new-leader-269x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"269\" height=\"300\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-301527\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ordinary Syrians watched the images of their president standing beside the leaders of the US and Saudi Arabia on their TV screens in amazement. For many it was a sign that 15 years of international isolation could finally be coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>Stalls that had popped up by Damascus\u2019s Ummayad mosque after the fall of Assad in December now sold the Saudi flag alongside the Syrian \u2013 thanks for Saudi\u2019s role in helping arrange the Trump-Sharaa meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor 15 years the world had this picture of us Syrians as refugees. Now they see us as we are. You can finally see light and you can see hope,\u201d said Hossam al-Khouli, 50, the owner of a handicraft shop in Damascus\u2019s old city.<\/p>\n<p>Behind Khouli was a wall filled with handmade mirrors and boxes inlaid with Damascus\u2019s famed mother-of-pearl. It was rare that he sold pieces these days, he said, as Syria had had few tourists over the last 15 years. Trump and Sharaa\u2019s meeting seemed to him a sign that soon he might have plenty of visitors to sell to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Trump spoke last night, it was the first time in my life that I listened to any president in the world and began to clap. He\u2019s a great man, really, he is a great man,\u201d Khouli said, smiling.<\/p>\n<p>Trump also seemed pleased with the meeting. He said he thought Sharaa had a \u201creal shot at holding it [Syria] together\u201d and that the Syrian president had agreed to eventually join the Abraham accords, which would normalise Syrian ties with Israel. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed the US-brokered accords in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I am] ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start,\u201d Trump told the GCC. \u201cIt gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to a White House spokesperson, Trump urged Sharaa to \u201cdeport Palestinian terrorists\u201d, help the US against Islamic State, and to deal with the country\u2019s remaining chemical weapons stock.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting, which Trump said had come at the urging of Prince Mohammed and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, was remarkable as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/trump-administration\">Trump administration<\/a> had previously been wary of engaging with Sharaa, a former leader of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham who has sought to moderate his image in recent years. Sharaa previously led the Syrian wing of al-Qaida before cutting ties with the group in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>It was the culmination of months of diplomacy by the new Syrian government, which overthrew Assad\u2019s regime at the end of the last year, as well as their Turkish and Saudi allies, who believed face time with Trump would help end Syria\u2019s international isolation. Damascus had prepared a pitch to Trump that included access to Syrian oil, reassurances of Israel\u2019s security and a proposal to build a Trump tower in Damascus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/may\/14\/trump-meets-syria-president-after-lifting-us-sanctions\">Continues&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syria&#8217;s Ahmed al-Sharaa has gone from leading the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra in 2014 to shaking hands with President Trump in 2025. Revealing how many of the militants in the phoney \u2018War on Terror\u2019 were in fact Western-backed puppets. In Sharaa\u2019s case, he was used to oust Assad and bring regime change to Damascus. Replacing a leader Moscow backed with a Western orientated regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":308730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-syria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308728"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308742,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308728\/revisions\/308742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}