Trump's vows, to raise sanctions against Syria, unleashes hope

The salaries would increase. Bread and petrol would be cheaper. The electricity would occur for more than a few hours a day. The reconstruction of destroyed cities and cities would begin.

President Trump's announcement in a speech in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that he would raise sanctions against Syria, the hope all over the country failed to improve life after more than a decade.

“It will calm us down,” said Sami Al-Hajj, a pharmacist. “We used to be afraid for the future, for ourselves and our children. But that will open up opportunities.”

Analysts and many others in Syria see the abolition of US sanctions crucial in order to rebuild the new government of a economy decimated by the war. The sanctions effectively lower Syria from the international banking system and isolated it from the global economy, blocked money transfers, importing and expression activities of most international companies.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump also met with the Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara, a former rebel leader who headed the campaign that fell the strong Bashar al-Assad in December. It was the first time in 25 years that the leaders of the two countries had met. The conversation, which lasted about half an hour, granted Mr. Al-Shara, who was still referred to by the US government as a terrorist for his previous belonging to Al-Qaida as a terrorist, a further stamp of recognition.

In a social media post after the meeting, the press spokesman for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said Mr. Trump Mr. Al-Shara, to reach a peace agreement with Israel, to sell foreign terrorists, to help the United States, the Foreign Minister Marco Rubio should meet with the foreign minister of Mr. al-Shara to do the details.