Fireworks erupted and hundreds of cars sounded their horns as crowds thronged the symbolic Umayyad Square in Damascus in the hours after Donald Trump made a shock announcement that he would drop sanctions on Syria “to give them a chance at greatness.”
A flashing sign read “make Syria great again”, while people posed in front of a billboard showing a grinning US president standing beside Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, with the text: “Thank you Saudi Arabia, United States of America”. Revolutionary songs blasted from car speakers while celebratory gunfire was heard intermittently.
Children leaned out of car-roof windows waving the new three-starred Syrian flag. A traffic policeman danced as a crowd of jubilant young men crowded into the back of a pickup truck passed by, pumping their arms in the air while shouting: “God is great.”
Everywhere, Syrians were filming on their phones, capturing the historic moment.
Trump made the sudden announcement while speaking at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. He is on a Middle East tour, during which he is due to stop in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
On Wednesday, Trump met Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former leader of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Syria has long been crippled by sanctions, which isolate its citizens from international trade and global financial systems, at a time when the country is struggling to rebuild after more than 13 years of war.
Sanctions mean Syrians inside the country can only access online platforms such as Microsoft services, Zoom and Amazon through a VPN. Syrians abroad cannot send money home through banks.
Many Syrians hoped the sanctions would be lifted following the fall of Bashar al-Assad‘s brutal regime last December, but the suddenness of the announcement came as a surprise.
Memes and gifs celebrating Trump were quickly circulated through social media and WhatsApp groups. As they did after the regime’s fall, huge numbers of people headed out in the capital to come together and celebrate the sudden change in fortunes.
The changes will take time to be felt on the ground.
On Wednesday, the situation seemed back to normal in Damascus, where beggars are common, bread queues are long and people throng around ATMs to try to receive a small amount of cash from Syrian bank accounts amid controls on withdrawals.
The United Nations says about 90 per cent of Syrians live in poverty and says one in four is jobless. In a February report, the UN Development Programme said that the country’s GDP had by last year contracted to less than half of its 2010 value, while the Syrian pound lost 99.7 per cent of its value.
“Easing sanctions and improving access to global markets will be critical in strengthening Syria’s economic prospects, advancing its recovery and ultimately fostering long-term peace,” it said.
