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Syria’s Sharaa arrives in US for Trump talks after sanctions lifted
Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa has arrived in Washington for an official visit, just two days after the US formally revoked his status as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The former Islamist militant will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, eleven months after his rebel alliance ousted Bashar al-Assad.
Hours before his arrival in the US capital it was announced that Syrian security services had detained dozens of suspected members of the so-called Islamic State group.
Joint efforts to tackle what remains of the group in Syria are expected to be high on the agenda during Sharaa’s talks with Trump.
Syrian authorities said 71 suspected members of the group were arrested, with weapons and explosives also seized.
Since taking power, Sharaa has looked to reestablish Syria’s presence on the world stage after decades of isolation under the Assad regime and 13 years of civil war.
He travelled to the US in September to address the UN General Assembly, where he said Syria was “reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world” and called on the international community to remove sanctions.
Earlier this week the UN Security Council backed a US resolution to lift measures, which coincided with Washington continuing a months-long process of gradually easing sanctions on Syria and its new leaders.
On Friday, Sharaa and his interior minister, Anas Hasan Khattab, were removed from a US register of individuals suspected of supporting or funding extremist groups, a decision the Treasury Department said was “in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership”.
Sharaa had been listed under the name Muhammad al-Jawlani, the alias he used as leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group was affiliated with al-Qaeda until 2016, when Sharaa severed ties.
Prior to leading HTS, Sharaa fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq and was for a time imprisoned by US forces. He was also subject to an American bounty of $10 million.
The US lifted its sanctions on HTS earlier this year.
Trump previously met Sharaa in May during a visit to Riyadh, where he described him as a “tough guy, very strong past”.
Despite his background, Sharaa has drawn backing from governments that opposed the Assad regime by vowing to lead a moderate government which can win support from Syria’s various ethnic groups and factions.
Earlier this year, he vowed to root out elements of his security forces which were accused of executing members of Syria’s Alawite minority.
Deadly violence has also broken out in recent months between Sunni Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze militias, raising questions over whether the HTS-led government can restore stability to a country defined by war for more than a decade.
[BBC]
US President Donald Trump has filed a $5bn (£3.7bn) lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.
Trump accused the broadcaster of defamation and of violating a trade practices law, according to court documents filed in Florida.
The BBC apologised to Trump last month, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was any “basis for a defamation claim”.
Trump’s legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech”. The BBC has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
Trump said last month that he planned to sue the BBC for the documentary, which aired in the UK ahead of the 2024 US election.
“I think I have to do it,” Trump told reporters of his plans. “They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
In his speech on 6 January 2021, before a riot at the US Capitol, Trump told a crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In the Panorama programme, a clip showed him as saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The BBC acknowledged that the edit had given “the mistaken impression” he had “made a direct call for violent action”, but disagreed that there was basis for a defamation claim.
In November, a leaked internal BBC memo criticised how the speech was edited, and led to the resignations of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness.
Before Trump filed the lawsuit, lawyers for the BBC had given a lengthy response to the president’s claims.
They said there was no malice in the edit and that Trump was not harmed by the programme, as he was re-elected shortly after it aired.
They also said the BBC did not have the rights to, and did not, distribute the Panorama programme on its US channels. While the documentary was available on BBC iPlayer, it was restricted to viewers in the UK.
In his lawsuit, Trump cites agreements the BBC had with other distributors to show content, specifically one with a third-party media corporation that allegedly had licensing rights to the documentary outside the UK. The BBC has not responded to these claims, nor has the corporation with the alleged distribution agreement.
The suit also claims that people in Florida may have accessed the programme using a VPN or by using streaming service BritBox.
“The Panorama Documentary’s publicity, coupled with significant increases in VPN usage in Florida since its debut, establishes the immense likelihood that citizens of Florida accessed the Documentary before the BBC had it removed,” the lawsuit said
(BBC)
The Situation Report issued by the Disaster Management Center at 06:00AM on 16th December 2025 shows that 70,297 persons belonging to 22,338 house holds are still being housed at 731 safety centers established by the government.
The number of deaths due to the recent disastrous weather stands at 643 while 183 persons are missing.
Latest News
Bondi Beach gunmen who killed 15 after targeting Jewish celebration were father and son, police say
New South Wales Police say 15 people, including a 10 year old girl were killed in a shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday – their ages range from 10 to 87
The attack happened while an event was being held to mark the start of Hanukkah – police say they’re treating it as a terror incident
The two gunmen were father and son, police say. The 50-year-old man also died at the scene while the 24-year-old remains in hospital in critical condition
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the attack “an act of pure evil” that “deliberately targeted” the Jewish community
(BBC)
Trump files $5bn defamation lawsuit against BBC over Panorama speech edit
UK and South Korea strike trade deal
Rob Reiner’s son Nick arrested for murder after director and wife found dead
70,297 persons still in safety centers
Showers will occur at times in the Northern, North-Central, Eastern, Uva and Central provinces
MEPA to crack down on marine polluters
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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