Syria's Sharaa, Trump Meet On Sidelines Of UN General Assembly

United Nations- Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Syrian state news agency SANA said early on Thursday.
SANA released a photograph showing Al-Sharaa shaking hands with Trump, with First Lady Melania Trump also present. The agency provided no further details.
This was the second meeting between the two leaders, following their meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in May.

Earlier on Monday, Al-Sharaa met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York, expanding relations with the West and further easing his country's isolation. He also became Syria's first leader to take part in a UN high-level meeting in nearly 60 years.
The last time a Syrian head of state attended the UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders was in 1967 - before the 50-year rule of the Assad family dynasty. A lightning insurgent offensive led by Al-Sharaa ousted Bashar Assad in December and brought nearly 14 years of civil war to an end.

Since then, Al-Sharaa has sought to restore ties with Arab countries and the West, where officials were initially wary of his past ties with the Al-Qaeda militant group. The rebel group he formerly led, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, was previously designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist group.

President Trump's administration has erased that designation and eased sanctions long imposed on Syria in a bid to ensure the country becomes a stable player in the Middle East following its global isolation under Assad.

Rubio“underscored this opportunity for Syria to build a stable and sovereign nation following President Trump's historic announcement earlier this year on sanctions relief for the Syrian people,” the State Department said in a statement.

“They discussed ongoing counterterrorism efforts, efforts to locate missing Americans, and the importance of Israel-Syria relations in achieving greater regional security,” the department said.

However, Al-Sharaa again expressed doubt that Syria would join the Abraham Accords, which saw several Arab states normalize relations with Israel during Trump's first term. That is even as Syria is in talks with the US and Israel over a potential security arrangement that could be finalized as early as this week.

“There's a big difference between Syria and those members in the Abraham Accords,” he said earlier Monday at the Concordia Annual Summit, a global affairs forum in New York.“Syria is different. And those who are part of the Abraham Accords are not neighbors to Israel. Therefore, Syria as a neighbor has been subjected to over 1,000 raids, strikes and Israeli incursions.”

He added that“Syria has to be respected in this new era. There are different phases of negotiations with Israel to go back to the truce of 1974.”

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