Lifting Syria sanctions a complex, time-taking task

On the regional political front, Donald Trump's Gulf tour yielded positive results for Syrians and negative consequences for Palestinians. Following a meeting with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Trump announced an end to 49 years of punishing US sanctions on Syria.

- Michael Jansen, Political Correspondent

Following Trump's change of policy, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani met in Turkey to discuss normalisation between the two countries. Trump's surprise amounts to a major gain for Sharaa as well as Turkey, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia which have long favoured such a move.

This amounts to a snub to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who had urged the retention of sanctions. Trump described Sharaa as a “young attractive guy - tough guy” with a “strong past.” Trump agued he should have an opportunity to stabilise Syria.

Sharaa’s “strong past” includes member-ship in al-Qaeda in Iraq before the 2003 US war on that country. He joined the insurgency against the US occupation of Iraq and was imprisoned by the US from 2006-2011. Upon his release he founded al-Qaeda's affiliate al-Nusra Front to battle the Assad government in Syria.

He refused to merge with Daesh, cut al-Nusra’s connection to al-Qaeda, and, with Turkish backing, took over Syria’s northwestern Idlib province where he founded Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US, and a $IO million price was put on his head. After the HTS ouster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last December, senior US diplomats visited Damascus to discuss Syria's future and remove the bounty.