Rabia Iclal Turan
16 May 2025•Update: 16 May 2025
WASHINGTON
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday affirmed Washington’s support for sanctions relief to stabilize Syria during a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani in Türkiye.
"The Secretary affirmed the United States’ support for sanctions relief to stabilize Syria," the State Department said in the readout of the meeting.
It said Rubio welcomed the Syrian government's "calls for peace with Israel, efforts to end Iran’s influence in Syria, commitment to ascertaining the fate of U.S. citizens missing or killed in Syria, and elimination of all chemical weapons."
"The Secretary underscored the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion," it added.
Syria's Foreign Ministry said the two men discussed the details of lifting US sanctions, improving relations between Damascus and Washington ways to build a strategic relationship.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also attended the meeting in the resort city of Antalya. The meeting, which lasted almost two hours, was extremely “cordial and constructive,” according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
It came one day after President Donald Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia -- the first between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.
On Tuesday, Trump announced at the 2025 Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh that he would order the removal of “brutal and crippling” US sanctions on Syria that was imposed before the fall of the Assad regime.
Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, 2024, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.
Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period in late January.
