Syria FM raises nation’s new flag at UN

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani raised his country’s new flag on Friday at the United Nations (UN), where he is attending a UN Security Council briefing, the first public appearance by a high-ranking Syrian government official in the United States.

The three-starred flag previously used by opposition groups has replaced the two-starred flag as the country’s official emblem.

The new authorities in Damascus have been courting Washington in hopes of receiving relief from harsh sanctions.

A delegation of Syrian officials travelled to the United States this week to attend World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington and UN meetings in New York.

It was unclear if Trump administration officials would meet with Shibani during the visit.

“We are open to the international community and look forward to being treated the same way,” Shibani said, as reported by state-run news agency SANA.

“With the removal of the reason for the sanctions, they must be lifted.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has yet to officially recognise the current Syrian government of Ahmad Al Sharaa.

The Republican administration has also left the sanctions in place, although it has provided temporary relief to some restrictions.

Two Republican members of the US Congress, Representatives Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Cory Mills of Florida, arrived in Damascus last week on an unofficial visit organised by a Syrian-American nonprofit group and met with Sharaa and other government officials.

Mills told said before meeting with Sharaa that “ultimately, it’s going to be the president’s decision” to lift sanctions or not, although he said that “Congress can advise.”

Mills later told Bloomberg News that he had discussed the US conditions for sanctions relief with Sharaa, including ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons, coordinating on counterterrorism, making a plan to deal with foreign militants who fought alongside the armed opposition, and providing assurances to Israel that Syria wouldn’t pose a threat.

He also said that Sharaa had said that Syria could normalise relations with Israel “under the right conditions,” without specifying what those conditions are.

Other Western countries have warmed up to the new Syrian authorities more quickly.

Associated Press