Security Council lifts sanctions against Syrian president, interior minister
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The UN Security Council adopted a resolution to lift sanctions against Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his Interior Minister Anas Khattab, which Damascus welcomed, expressing gratitude to the United States and friendly countries.
The Council adopted this resolution presented by the United States, with the approval of 14 of the 15 member states, while China abstained from the vote.
Syria’s representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, said – in an interview with Al Jazeera – that the decision “represents the result of positive and continued engagement with Syria over the past months and embodies the role of the international community in keeping pace with developments on the ground.”
For his part, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said in a message on the X website: “Syria expresses its gratitude to the United States and friendly countries for their support for Syria and its people.”
Al-Shaibani added that Syrian diplomacy reaffirms “its effective presence and capacity to make progress at a sustained pace to remove obstacles and pave the way for a more open and stable Syrian future.”
On the other hand, the American representative to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, declared that the adoption of this resolution “sends a strong political message recognizing that Syria is in a new era.”
He added that Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “is working hard to fulfill his country’s commitments in the fight against terrorism.”
US President Donald Trump is due to receive his Syrian counterpart at the White House next Monday.
Trump said in remarks at the White House on Thursday: “The Syrian president is a strong man and I get along well with him. »
He added: “We lifted sanctions on Syria to give it a chance, and I think it’s doing a good job so far.”
Al-Sharaa was the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front and listed since May 2014 on the Security Council’s sanctions list against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Syrian armed factions, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, were able to enter Damascus and overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, 13 years after the outbreak of the revolution.
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