Syrian president, Mohammed al Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday (10 November).
Trump met with al Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, six months after the two first met in Saudi Arabia, and just days after Washington said that the Syrian leader, who once led an Al-Qaeda affiliate group, was no longer a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."
Washington suspended the imposition of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria in part for 180 days, the Treasury Department said as the meeting took place.
The move replaces a previous waiver enacted on 23 May, it said
On Friday, the US lifted sanctions on Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, a day after the UN Security Council took the same step.
Sharaa, 42, took power last year after his fighters launched a lightning offensive from their Idlib and overthrew longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad just days later on December 8.
Syria's regional realignment has since moved away from key allies of the former regime, Iran and Russia, and toward Turkey, the Gulf - and Washington.
Syria's presidency said that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, "the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest."
After Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May, Trump announced he would lift all sanctions on Syria.
But the toughest measures, known as the Caeser Sanction Act, require a repeal from Congress. The White House and State Department have publicly backed lifting them before 2025 ends, but experts say the government shutdown may affect that time frame.
The Caesar Act, enacted in 2019, has blocked any international financing for Syria. While some lawmakers from both parties still oppose repealing it, a growing number of senators and representatives - including some of the law’s original authors - now believe it has served its purpose and is currently hindering reconstruction efforts in Syria, where an estimated 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.
The US president has the authority to waive Caesar Act sanctions for no more than six months at a time, hence the push for full repeal, amid Washington’s desire to allow American and allied companies to invest in Syria.
Source: commonspace.eu with The new Arab (London) and agencies
