Trump announces end to US sanctions on Syria | World News

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States would lift sanctions on Syria, in what he described as the first step toward normalising relations with the country’s new leadership.
Speaking at a US-Saudi investment forum in Riyadh, Trump said the decision was taken after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed,” Trump said, according to AP.  “I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”
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The announcement marks a significant policy change. Sanctions had been imposed over the past decade during the Syrian civil war, when former president Bashar al-Assad was accused of widespread human rights abuses and the use of chemical weapons.
Assad fled the country in December, and Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former leader of the Islam group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is now the country’s interim president. The US has designated HTS as a foreign terror organisation.
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