US President Donald Trump on Wednesday informed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa that he had decided to remove the country from the US list of designated state sponsors of terrorism.

“I promised to remove all barriers stopping you from rebuilding your country, and very soon, you will finally be able to do so,” Trump wrote in a letter to Sharaa that a senior US administration official said was handed to the Syrian leader after their meeting on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Turkey.

“We have US companies ready to invest in Syria and help make your country greater and more prosperous than ever before,” Trump added in the letter.

Meeting Sharaa in Ankara, Trump complimented the Syrian leader, who was a commander of Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front in Syria before cutting ties with the group in 2016. He then led a coalition of Islamist rebel factions in late 2024 to topple Assad.

“He’s respected by everybody, including me,” Trump said. “He’s doing an unbelievable job in unifying Syria. What a job he’s doing.”

“Syria was a mess with what happened with the previous government,” Trump added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally informed Congress of the........

© The Times of Israel