BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 16 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected approach to Syria has presented a significant opportunity for the country's interim president, Ahmad Sharaa, to prove that he can overcome the enormous challenges he faces and lead the war-torn nation toward recovery and stabilization, political analysts and experts said.
Trump's announcement of the cessation of U.S. sanctions, along with his meeting with Sharaa -- a former jihadist who, until recently, was on the U.S. most-wanted list with a $10 million bounty on his head -- marked a turning point and the beginning of a new chapter for Syria nearly six months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad and his Baathist regime.
With Assad gone, the sanctions were increasingly seen as only prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people and worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
Had the sanctions remained in place, Syria would have become a failed state, as it was just weeks away from financial collapse, according to Mouaz Mustafa of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Mustafa warned that continued sanctions would have led to disastrous consequences for both the region and the world.
