Al-Shara is a “very strong leader” and a “tough guy,” Trump praised the Syrian leader after Monday's meeting. — I like him, I get along with him — he added, answering journalists' questions during the swearing-in ceremony of the new US ambassador to India in the Oval Office.
“We will do everything we can to make Syria prosper because it is part of the Middle East and I am convinced that he will be able to do it,” Trump said.
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Who met at the White House?
What were Trump's conversations with al-Shara about?
What sanctions have been lifted by the US?
What did Trump say about al-Shara?
“We are working with Israel to reach an agreement with Syria.”
— People say he had a checkered past. We all had troubled pasts, he continued. He also noted that al-Shara gets along well with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he also called “a great leader.”
— We are also working with Israel to get along with Syria and get along with everyone. It's going great, said the US president.
Al-Shara, a former jihadist, visited the White House on Monday as the first Syrian leader in history. In the past he was, among others, commander of one of the al-Qaeda factions and spent five years in American prisons in Iraq. The new government renounces jihadist ideology, terror and hostility towards neighbors and ethnic minorities.
The Trump administration on Monday extended the suspension of existing sanctions against Syria. On Friday, the US lifted sanctions on al-Shara itself.
