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united nations security council have lifted the restrictions on Ahmed Al-SharaFormer al Qaeda leader who now rules SyriaAhead of his visit to the White House to meet Donald Trump.
Mr Shaara took over as president after leading an Islamist rebel attack Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, Ending more than a decade of civil war.
Motion moved to lift ban on Mr Shara and his Interior Minister Anas Khatta We On Thursday, 14 votes were cast in its favour, while China was the only absentee.
Mr Shara was banned by the United Nations in 2014 as the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-ShamThen the Syrian chapter of Al Qaeda.
Mr. Shara, under the pseudonym Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, emerged as a precursor to al Qaeda and ISIS, fighting American forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian civil war. He was captured by American soldiers and imprisoned for several years.
His group broke ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 and in July the US removed it from the list of foreign terrorist groups.
On Thursday, Mr Trump praised Mr Shaara for doing a “very good job” as Syria’s leader.
The US President said, “It’s a tough neighborhood, and he’s a tough guy, but I got along very well with him. And there’s been a lot of progress with Syria.” “We lifted sanctions on Syria to give them a fighting chance.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said the resolution was a “strong political signal” that Syria is in a new era.
The US government, he claimed, is “working hard to meet its commitments on counter-terrorism and narcotics, eliminating any remnants of chemical weapons, and maintaining regional security and stability, as well as promoting an inclusive Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process”.
Syrian Ambassador Ibrahim Olabi praised the move, calling it “a message of support for Syrian women and men in their effort to rebuild their homeland and restore their lives.”
“The new Syria will be a success story,” he told the Security Council. “This will be a shining model that proves that the optimal path in international relations is positive engagement and constructive cooperation. If there are any concerns, Syria is fully prepared to address them with sincere intentions based on mutual respect.”
Mr Shaara is visiting Washington on Monday for the first time since taking power, a long trip for a man whom the US once declared a terrorist and put a $10 million bounty on his head.
In September, Mr. Shaara visited New York for the United Nations General Assembly session, and became the first Syrian president to address the international body in 58 years.
first mr trump meet Mr. Shaaraa in may When the US President was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on his Middle East tour. He later described the Syrian leader as a “tough man” with a “very strong past”.
Beijing Ambassador Fu Kang said China blocked the proposal because it did not properly address its concerns about counterterrorism and security in Syria.
Beijing has long expressed concern about the presence of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in Syria.
The group, also known as the Turkestan Islamic Party and dominated by Uighurs from China and Central Asia, was one of the Islamist fighters that helped Mr Shaara take over the Arab country.
China accuses the group, which aims to establish an independent state of “East Turkistan” in the country’s northwest, of waging terrorist violence in Xinjiang province, where Beijing is accused of overseeing widespread abuses of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
Mr Fu said the resolution adopted on Thursday “makes it clear” that Syria “must take decisive action to combat terrorist acts and respond to the threat of foreign terrorist fighters, including ETIM”.