Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa joined world leaders at the United Nations COP30 summit in Brazil, pledging his commitment to global efforts to limit climate change, in the latest sign that the war-torn country is returning to the international fold.
Al-Sharaa told the Brazil summit on Thursday that his country was fully on board with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and invited investments in renewable energy as part of his country’s “ambitious” plans for reconstruction and recovery.
The president acknowledged the complex challenges faced by Syria after the 14-year civil war that finally toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad last December, in a definitive lightning offensive led by al-Sharaa, while underlining the urgency of tackling climate change, which hit Syria hard this year with “a drought unlike any it has seen in over six decades”.
He called on nations to strengthen “bonds of cooperation from the Amazon to the Barada and Euphrates rivers, within a framework of strong inter-state collaboration and in support of the growing role of developing nations”.
His visit to the Amazon came before talks with United States President Donald Trump in Washington. The White House declined to send high-level officials to the summit after Trump told the UN General Assembly (UNGA) this year that climate change is the world’s “greatest con job”.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted to remove sanctions imposed on al-Sharaa and his Interior Minister Anas Khattab, marking yet another step out of the international isolation that marked the al-Assad years.
The resolution, championed by the US, was seen as a largely symbolic move as sanctions were waived every time al-Sharaa needed to travel outside Syria anyway. He was the first Syrian head of state to attend the annual UNGA gathering in September in almost six decades, where he called for a lifting of all sanctions against his country.
An assets freeze and arms embargo will also be lifted.
Al-Sharaa led opposition fighters who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad’s government in December.
His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), began an offensive on November 27, 2024, reaching Damascus in only 12 days, resulting in the end of the al-Assad family’s 53-year reign.
On Saturday, US special envoy Tom Barrack said Syria is expected to join the US-led anti-ISIL (ISIS) coalition, describing it as “a big step” and “remarkable”.
