Trump raves about Syria’s president: “Attractive guy”

After a meeting with the Syrian transition head Ahmed al-Schaara, US President Donald Trump expressed exuberantly about the former jihadist. Trump described the encounter on Wednesday as “great” and described Al-Schaara as “young, attractive guy” and “fighter”.

It was the first personal encounter between the heads of state of the United States and Syria for 25 years. Most recently, the then US President Bill Clinton met Hafis al-Assad in 2000, the father of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, who had fallen in December.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the half-hour meeting between Trump and Al-Schaara in the Saudi Arabian capital Riad as “historical”. The day before, Trump announced the lifting of long-term US sanctions against Syria.

During the onward flight to Qatar in the presidential machine Air Force One, Trump also described the transitional president of the Islamist government in Syria as a “robust guy” with a “very strong past”.

The Islamist HTS militia cited by Al-Schaara and allied groups had overthrew Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war. The HTS is an earlier branch of Al Qaeda, but had long been from the terror network, which was responsible for the attacks in the USA of September 11, 2001. Former jihadist Al-Schaara has been trying for a more moderate image since taking office as a temporary president.

According to the White House, Trump asked the Syrian transition president at the meeting to normalize the relationships of Syria and Israel and to show Palestinian “terrorists”. Syria should also take control of internment camps in northeastern Syria, in which fighters of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia are recorded. So far, these camps have been controlled by Kurdish fighters.

The Saudi Arabian crown prince and de-facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman was also present at the meeting. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also took part in video posting, as the official Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Trump and Al-Schaara advised on “ways to the Syrian-American partnership in anti-terrorism efforts”. However, the Foreign Ministry did not comment on the question of normalizing relationships with Israel.

Trump said on board the Air Force One that Al-Schaara, like other Arab countries, said “yes”, as to sign a so-called Abraham agreement on the normalization of relationships with Israel. However, Syria still had “a lot of work to do in this regard,” added the US President.

The U.S. sanctions, which was announced by Trump on Tuesday, triggered cheers in Syria, and people celebrated on the streets. According to the state news agency Sana, the Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Schaibani spoke of a “decisive turning point for the Syrian people in our development towards a future of stability, economic stability and real reconstruction after years of a destructive war”.

After talking to Al-Schaara, Trump said at a meeting with stauna steering core of the golf region that Syria was given “a good, strong chance” for the reconstruction, which is not an easy task.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey had campaigned for the extent between the United States and Syria after the overthrow of long-time rulers Assad. With his approximation steps, Trump, however, stood over the strong reservations of Israel compared to the new Syrian leadership.

At the end of February, the EU had already partially suspended its punitive measures against the country. The United States had called for the protection of minorities as a prerequisite for the lifting of sanctions from the new Syrian rulers.

The new Syrian leadership has repeatedly assured that he wants to protect the minorities. In the past few weeks, however, fighters associated with the Syrian government have attacked members of the religious minorities of the Alawites and Drusen, and numerous people were killed.

Meanwhile, Trump is primarily pursuing economic goals with his three-day Middle East trip. At the start of the trip, the United States and Saudi Arabia closed an armaments agreement in volume of $ 142 billion ($ 127.4 billion) on Tuesday. The Golf state will receive “state -of -the -art fighting equipment” from the USA, the White House explained.

In Qatar, Trump then announced that the Airways airline there ordered 160 aircraft worth $ 200 billion (178 billion euros) from the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing. It is “the biggest order in the history of Boeing”. That is “pretty good”.

Trump is exposed to the allegation of conflicts of interest at home because he wants to give himself a luxury jet from Qatar and use it as a new Air Force One.