(Adnkronos) – Another handshake between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Donald Trump. The self-proclaimed Syrian president, leader of post-Assad Syria, had a ‘flash’ meeting with the US president shortly after his speech to the UN General Assembly. The Syrian presidency announced the news, posting images of the handshake and greeting on X, under the watchful eye of Melania Trump. They met, according to the Damascus presidency, during the reception organized on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Trump and Al-Sharaa met in May in the Saudi capital Riyadh. And until July, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), protagonist of the jihadist and rebel offensive that ended the Assad era and of which al-Sharaa was much more than the face, was considered by the United States as a “terrorist group”.
According to statements to Syria TV by Qutaiba Idlibi, head of the US Affairs Department of the Damascus Foreign Ministry, the focus of the brief exchange in New York between Trump and al-Sharaa was the process for lifting sanctions imposed on Syria and preparations for organizing a face-to-face meeting in Washington. For Idlibi, it is the beginning of a new phase for the Arab country, which aims for international recognition (and with which Israel does not hide its negotiations) after the end of the Assad regime last December. At that time, the United States ‘freed’ Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the nom de guerre of Ahmed al-Sharaa, from the $10 million bounty for his capture. Yesterday’s was his first speech at the UN and also the first by a Syrian leader in almost 60 years.
