(14 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Homs, Syria – 13 May, 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of kids waving Saudi and Syrian flags from cars
2. People gathered in square waving flags and singing
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Mohammed al-Sabaaei, Syrian man: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT1 AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT2&PARTIALLY BY SHOT4++
“We’re first hopeful that the sanctions will be lifted, and what we hope for and expect is for investments to return to Syria and for the economy to pick up again. A lot of companies boycotted us because of the despicable Bashar (Assad), everything was forbidden, investment was forbidden, economy was forbidden, some companies wouldn’t come here, even Google wasn’t allowed here, we couldn’t do a single thing.”
4. Various of men singings and dancing
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Nada Shaheen, Syrian woman: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT6++
“This is a second happiness, and a second liberation, the sanctions will be lifted which means a revival is coming, we will no longer have crises, no more water crisis, no more economic crisis.”
6. Flares in crowd
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Idlib, Syria – 13 May, 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
7. Pan down from fireworks in the sky to square where people are gathered
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Talal al-Homsi, Syrian man: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
“We say thank you to Saudi Arabia, to Qatar and to Turkey, and send our regards to America and the people of America. He (Donald Trump) has finally seen that this is a revolution of the people and to back it up is backing up the entire world and ensuring the world’s stability.”
9. People celebrating
STORYLINE:
Syrians took to the streets in cities across the country to celebrate following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will ease sanctions and move to normalize relations with the new government to give the country “a chance at peace.”
Trump made the announcement shortly before he was set to meet Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime insurgent who last year led the overthrow of longtime leader Bashar Assad.
Trump said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed,” Trump said of Syria, adding, “I say, good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”
The developments were a major boost for the Syrian president, who had been imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurgency following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the Arab country.
Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
The U.S. has been weighing how to handle al-Sharaa since he took power in December.
Gulf leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decade-long civil war.
Then-President Joe Biden left the decision to Trump, whose administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government. Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place.
Before Trump spoke, the White House said he had “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president while in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida.
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