Trump expected that he would meet the Syrian leader after announcing that he would be lifting sanctions

US President Donald Trump said he would raise sanctions against Syria before an expected meeting with his leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Trump agreed to “say” the Syria -Interim President in Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as part of his tour through the Middle East, said the White House.

The announcement of the sanctions was thrilled in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where cheering, dancing and solemn shots could be heard.

The sanctions had previously blocked any foreign financing, including help, from reaching Syria and was originally supposed to put pressure on the dictatorship of the suitable President Bashar al-Assad.

Trump said that the change in politics would give Syria “a chance of size” and tell an investment forum in the Riad of Saudi Arabia: “It is their time to shine.”

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani celebrated the decision as a “decisive turning point for the country” in an interview with the state's state news agency, Sana.

The country is looking forward to a future of “stability, self -sufficiency and real reconstruction after years of a destructive war,” he added.

Ninety percent of the population of Syria were left under the poverty border at the end of the Assad regime, and its new government has put an end to sanctions since falling in December.

At the end of last year, Al-Sharaa said in an interview that Syria was not a threat to the world and demanded that sanctions be lifted.

He also demanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that assaded. are released as a terrorist organization. Among other things, it is one of the UN, the United States, the EU and Great Britain as a splinter group from al-Qaida that broke off in 2016.

Al-Sharaa repeated these calls at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron last week and said: “These sanctions were imposed on the previous regime because of the crimes committed, and this regime has disappeared.”

The Syrian leader has promised to protect ethnic minorities since his Sunni Islamist group led the rebel offensive that the regime of Bashar al-Assad overturned in December after 13 years of the devastating civil war.

The mass murders of hundreds of civilians from Assad's section of Alawite in the western coastal region in March during the clashes between the new security forces and the Assad loyalists hardened the fears of minority communities.

There were also deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters of the Druse religious minority.

The announcement of the United States is a big thrust for Al-Sharaa and also marks a significant foreign policy change for the United States, which previously stated not to increase sanctions in Syria if questions such as minority rights in the country progress.

Trump said his announcement was an inquiry from the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” said the US leader and added: “I like him too much.”

The couple met on Tuesday at Trump's first stop of his tour through the Middle East, where they jointly announced a weapon contract of $ 142 billion (107 billion GBP).

The former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who served under the former President Barack Obama, welcomed the step of the Trump government to raise sanctions.

“I visited Syria three months ago and the country was simply destroyed after the 13-year civil war. It has to be rebuilt, it has to be rebuilt, it must be necessary for foreign financing,” he told BBC.

“It is therefore absolutely important to eliminate the sanctions so that international capital flows from Gulf States, other Arab countries and various aid organizations in Syria can go.”

The tour of the Arab Gulf States will also lead to Trump visiting Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.