by SEAN MATHEWS
Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned the US against assassinating President Ahmed al-Sharaa before the new Syrian leader met with President Donald Trump, a US senator said on Thursday.
The remarkable statement by a US senator reveals the deep hostility toward Sharaa in some circles of the Trump administration. It reaffirms Trump’s own statements that he has been lobbied directly by foreign leaders to give Sharaa a chance, while his own advisors are sceptical.
“I have been concerned by some rumours that I have heard in…some foreign policy circles of the administration that one option that’s been suggested is assassinating the new leader of the Syrian government, Ahmed al-Sharaa,” Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a Senate hearing on Thursday.
According to Shaheen, Jordan’s King Abdullah II heard about the alleged discussions to assassinate Sharaa and warned against it.
“One of the things that was pointed out to us by King Abdullah was that a change in leadership of that kind would create an all-out civil war in Syria. That would not be good to take advantage of the opportunity we have to move that country forward,” Shaheen said.
Shaheen met with King Abdullah in Washington, DC, in May, suggesting that those discussions may have taken place just before Trump cancelled sanctions on Syria and met Sharaa.
Shaheen made the remarks during her questioning of Joel Rayburn, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of state for the Near East, the top Middle East position in the State Department.
The admission by Shaheen is remarkable, given the events of this week. Trump surprised his own senior officials and Israel by announcing he was lifting all sanctions on Syria.
Trump then held a meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One after the meeting, Trump showered praise on Sharaa, saying he was a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter”.
Asked to comment on the assassination “option”, Rayburn replied, “I’m not familiar with efforts like that, but that’s clearly not in line with the president’s intention…or his description of Sharaa in the past couple of days.”
Blindsided
Trump’s decision to remove all US sanctions on Syria, going back to 1979, was met with thunderous applause in Riyadh, but has annoyed members of the US government. Some in the US State Department who have advocated for sanctions relief also felt sidelined.
Just a few days before the announcement, the State Department’s Syrian advisors were briefing foreign counterparts that the Trump administration was set to keep sanctions on the new government in Damascus, one regional official told Middle East Eye.
Meanwhile, hardline members of Trump’s National Security Council have told counterparts privately that they would try to drag out the sanctions relief process to obtain concessions from Sharaa, one current and one former US official told MEE.
Middle East Eye for more