RIYADH — President Donald J. Trump has announced the full removal of U.S. sanctions on Syria following unprecedented backchannel talks with Syrian self-imposed president Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known as Julani, the former leader of Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch. The announcement came during Trump’s speech in Riyadh on Tuesday, as part of his four-day Middle East visit.
The decision follows reports that Julani authorized his envoys to offer sweeping concessions to the United States in exchange for sanctions relief and international legitimacy. The delegation, led by U.S. businessman Jonathan Bass and Syrian Emergency Task Force director Mouaz Moustafa, met with Trump-aligned officials in Damascus on April 30. Among the proposals: granting U.S. firms access to Syria’s oil, gas, and reconstruction sectors, normalizing ties with Israel via the Abraham Accords, and suppressing Palestinian resistance factions operating within Syria.
“Julani sees President Trump as a God-sent man of peace,” said Moustafa, confirming the regime’s willingness to expel groups such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Julani’s forces reportedly arrested several Palestinian leaders in recent weeks in what observers see as a move to win Western favor and Saudi sponsorship.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to have brokered the Riyadh summit and a direct meeting between Trump and Julani, seen as a seismic shift in Middle Eastern geopolitics.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump declared before a packed audience in Riyadh. The U.S. Caesar Act sanctions had long isolated Damascus economically and diplomatically.
Whether Syria’s reintegration into regional frameworks like the Abraham Accords will proceed remains uncertain, but this development marks the boldest realignment in the Syrian file in over a decade.
