President Trump plans to meet for the first time on Wednesday with President Ahmed al-Shara of Syria, who rose to power after a rebel alliance he led ousted the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, according to a White House official and a regional official with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s plans.
The meeting is expected to happen while Mr. Trump is still in Saudi Arabia, hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A White House official said Mr. Trump agreed to “say hello” to the Syrian president while in Saudi Arabia, according to the press pool traveling with the U.S. president.
A face-to-face meeting with Mr. Trump grants Mr. al-Shara a unique opportunity to make his case to a world leader who has the power to dramatically shape Syria’s future.
Since the rebel coalition that Mr. al-Shara headed seized control of the Syrian capital, Damascus, and toppled Mr. al-Assad in December, the United States has kept in place a multilayered sanctions regime that strangled the economy under the ousted government.
Mr. al-Shara and other Syrian officials have argued that those sanctions should be lifted because the old government is gone and to allow for international aid and investment that will help the country recover from a devastating civil war.
Some Arab countries have called for sanctions on Syria to be lifted so that they can provide aid and reconstruction assistance, and European countries have lifted some of their sanctions.
But the Trump administration has kept its distance from Mr. al-Shara’s fledgling administration. Some U.S. administration officials remain deeply skeptical of Mr. al-Shara’s motives, pointing to his Islamist orientation and history as the leader of a Syrian branch of Al Qaeda before he broke with the terror group more than a decade ago.
However, Mr. Trump said on Monday that he may ease sanctions on Syria.
“We’re going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve,” he said. “We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start.”
The American administration has avoided high-level engagements with Mr. al-Shara’s government and issued demands related to counterterrorism and other issues that it says the new government must meet for sanctions relief to be considered.
The Syrian government has said that some of the demands, such as a ban on foreign fighters in Syria’s government and armed forces, need to be negotiated. But at the same time, it has made moves toward meeting other demands.
Syria recently brought a team of forensic experts from Qatar to search for the remains of Americans killed by the jihadists of the Islamic State group.
And Syrian officials have told American interlocutors that they have sought to avoid conflict with all neighboring countries, including Israel, and they welcome American investment.
Even if other countries lift their sanctions, U.S. sanctions could still limit their ability to help Mr. al-Shara because governments are wary of being seen as running afoul of Mr. Trump.
