ISTANBUL

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Saturday received Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy to Syria, in Istanbul, according to Foreign Ministry sources.

Alongside al-Sharaa, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also met with Barrack on the sidelines of high-level Syrian delegation's visit to Türkiye, according to Syria's official news agency SANA.

“Today, I met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani in Istanbul to implement President Trump’s bold decision to provide a path for peace and prosperity in Syria,” Barrack said on X.

He went on to say that “President al-Sharaa praised America’s fast action on lifting sanctions, welcoming Secretary Rubio’s landmark announcement yesterday waiving Caesar Act sanctions for 180 days and the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement of General License 25 and other sanctions relief measures.”

The US envoy reiterated the US support for the "Syrian people after so many years of conflict and violence and reiterated Secretary Rubio’s position that if we had not acted so promptly and deliberately to remove sanctions our partners in the region would not be able to provide donor dollars, supplies, and energy to relieve the plight and trauma of the traumatized Syrian population.”

President Trump’s goal “is to enable the new government to create the conditions for the Syrian people to not only survive but thrive,” he said.

Barrack stressed the cessation of sanctions against Syria “will preserve the integrity of our primary objective – the enduring defeat of ISIS – and will give the people of Syria a chance for a better future.”

“I also commended President al-Sharaa on taking meaningful steps towards enacting President Trump’s points on foreign terrorist fighters, counter-ISIS measures, relations with Israel, and camps and detention centers in NE Syria,” he added.

Both sides affirmed “commitment to continuing these important conversations and to working together to develop private sector investment in Syria to rebuild the economy, including through investment by regional and global partners such as Türkiye, the Gulf, Europe, and the United States.”

The meeting was “historic, putting the issue of sanctions – as President Trump has indicated – far behind us, and resulting in joint commitment of both our countries to drive forward, quickly, with investment, development, and worldwide branding of a new, welcoming Syria without sanctions,” he concluded.

On Friday, Barrack announced he has assumed the role of special envoy to Syria, as the Donald Trump administration continues to work on lifting sanctions on Damascus.

Last week, Trump announced at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia that he would lift the “brutal and crippling” sanctions on Syria at the request of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A day later, Trump held a historic meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh — the first between US and Syrian leaders in 25 years.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Washington supports efforts to help the new Syrian government succeed, warning that failure could lead to further war and regional instability.​​​​​​​

“We want to help that government succeed because the alternative is full-scale civil war and chaos, which would, of course, destabilize the entire region,” Rubio told a Senate committee.