Trump praises Syria's Sharaa after truce reached with SDF
The Trump administration’s Syria envoy said Tuesday that Washington believed Damascus could handle the country’s continued fight against ISIS, signaling a major shift in the US' policy toward the Kurdish forces.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump heaped praise on his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Tuesday after Damascus announced a four-day ceasefire, ending several days of clashes with US-backed Kurdish-led forces.
"The president of Syria is working very, very hard,” Trump told reporters in a lengthy press conference Tuesday. “Strong guy, tough guy. Pretty rough resume, but you're not going to put a choir boy in there.”
The Trump administration has thrown its support behind Sharaa, a former jihadist who took power in Syria over a year ago after his forces ousted longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa has pledged to unify the country, which remains deeply fractured after more than 13 years of civil war.
For months, the Syrian leader has been negotiating with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over a US-brokered deal that would integrate the SDF into the national military and extend state control over much of the northeast, which has been under Kurdish administration.
