It has not been the only one, a day before the own Trump announced that the United States will raise the sanctions that weigh on Syria.
USA began to apply sanctions against Syria In 1979, when the country was designated as sponsor of terrorism. These measures intensified in 2003. Subsequently, after the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, there were new Washington measures to press the regime of Bashar al Assad to allow a transition to democracy.
The president of the United States, American Donald Trump; the interim president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa (der.); and the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riad on May 14, 2025. (AFP).
/
Thus, on March 7, 2012, the United States House of Representatives approved sanctions against To Assad and its regime, in particular to the energy and financial sectors. A year later, Washington announced “military support” for the Syrian opposition. The latter was a reaction to the confirmation that the Syrian dictator had used chemical weapons against the rebels.
During his Tuesday speech at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia, Trump said Syria sanctions have been “devastating“Although they had” an important function. “He added that now it is the time of that country to” shine. “
The next day, Trump met with Ahmed al Sharaa. The American said it was a “great” meeting and He referred to the Syrian leader as a “young and attractive fighter. A hard guy. With a strong past. A very strong past. A fighter. ”
Trump asked Al Sharaa to join Abraham’s agreements and normalize relationships with Israel, something that would be an extraordinary change in the Middle East.
At this point, it should be noted that Bashar al Assad He was overthrown on December 8, 2024, after a lightning operation that began eight days before with the fall of Aleppo. The rebel coalition was headed by Ahmed al Sharaa.
Since then, the geopolitics Regional has been reconfigured. Under the Al Assad regime, Syria was one of Russia’s greatest allies in the Middle East. Also from Iran, who backed the dictatorship militarily and used Syria as a place of transit of weapons that transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon. With Sharaa all this has changed.
For the international analyst Francisco Belaunde Matossian There is still a long path for the Syrian recognition of Israelbecause the theme of the Golán highSyrian territory occupied by Israel since the six -day war 1967 and unilaterally attached in 1981.
In addition, he said that after the fall of Al Assad, Israel militarily occupies strategic areas in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and parts of the demilitarized area established by the 1974 forces separation agreement under the auspices of the UN.
“There can be no recognition if that occupation continues. Maybe To Sharaa It will condition Israel’s recognition to the return of the goal, or in any case will ask for compensation. That will be a very complicated issue to solve, “Belaunde told Commerce.
Who is Ahmed al Sharaa?
Abu Mohammed al Jolani goes to a crowd in the emblematic Umayya Mosque of Damascus on December 8, 2024. (PHOTO OF AREF TAMMAWI / AFP).
/
Ahmed al Sharaa was born on October 29, 1982 in Riad, Saudi Arabiawithin a Syrian Sunita family originally from the Golán highs. His family moved to Damascus in 1989, where he grew up in the Mezzeh neighborhood.
His father, Hussein al-Sharaa, was an oil engineer and his mother of geography.
During his youth, Ahmed was described as an applied but reserved student, with religious inclinations that intensified after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington that were perpetrated by the Qaeda terrorist network, then commanded by Osama Bin Laden.
To Sharaa He said that his political militancy and radicalization began with the second Palestine Intifada in 2000 and the US invasion in Iraq.
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq as part of its purpose of finding Bin Laden and ending Al Qaeda.
That same year, Al Sharaa joined Al Qaeda in Iraq to fight against US forces.
In 2006 The United States captured him in Iraq And he spent about five years in various Iraqi prisons, including Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca.
Abu Mohmaed al Jolani when he commanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
After his release in 2011, he returned to Syria and founded the In front of the NusraThe Al Qaeda subsidiary in that country, which became one of the most powerful forces in the civil war against Bashar al Assad.
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who in 2014 announced the establishment of a caliphate In Iraq and Syria, it was the one who commissioned Al Sharaa to create Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
The front of the Nusra and the Sharaa settled in Idlib, In northern Syria.
However, in 2016 To Sharaa He broke with Al Qaeda and dissolved the Syrian subsidiary. Then he created the Levante Liberation Agency (Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, HTS)which grouped Islamist, nationalist, pro -Turkish forces and enemies of the Al Assad regime.
The HTS established an administration in IDLIBknown as the National Salvation Governmentwhich provided public services and issued identity documents, although he faced criticism for authoritarian tactics and repression of dissent.
In December 2024, Sharaa led an offensive that resulted in the fall of key cities such as Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus, culminating with the flight to Russia de Bashar al Assad on December 8. Thus ended with 54 years of family dictatorship to Assad: Hafez al Assad He was in power between 1970 and 2000, and his son Bashar al Assad From 2000 to 2024.
Since then, To Sharaa assumed the de facto leadership of Syria and was appointed interim president on January 29, 2025.
As president, To Sharaa He has tried to improve his international image, signing an interim constitution that establishes a five -year transition period and promises to protect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups of Syria.
He has also sought to normalize relations with neighboring countries and has been received by international leaders, such as the French president Emmanuel Macron.
Foreigners who were with Sharaa in recent years, many of the Caucasus or Central Asia, are among their most radical and fierce militiamen. These have been disturbing their goal of respecting the ethnic and religious minorities of Syria.
Ahmed Al Sharaa speaking in Damascus on March 9, 2025. (Photo of the Syrian / AFP Presidency).
/
Is Sharaa really a moderate? Francisco Belaunde believes that Western countries are giving you the benefit of doubt Because “indeed, people can change based on circumstances.”
“It may be that your jihadism has been a stage of opportunismit is not known, and once in the presidency of Syria he wants to play the role of president of all. The problem with him is that he has allies that are still jihadists, many of them foreigners, who are the ones who have been perpetrating massacres against minorities such as the Alauitas and the Druss. He will have to solve that matter, ”added Belaunde.
“But anyway Sharaa is giving Some signs of being leaving its radical past behind. That does not mean that it will become a Democrat, it can end up being an authoritarian who will govern away from jihadism, “he said.
