DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria considers the move by the Trump administration to ease sanctions imposed on the war-torn country as a “positive step” to ease humanitarian and economic suffering, its Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said Syria “extends its hand” to anyone that wants to cooperate with Damascus, on the condition that there is no intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

The statement came after President Donald Trump’s administration granted Syria sweeping exemptions from sanctions Friday in a major first step toward fulfilling the president’s pledge to lift a half-century of penalties on a country shattered by 14 years of civil war.

Thomas Barrack , the U.S. ambassador to Turkey who has also been appointed as special envoy for Syria, met with Syria’s president and foreign minister during their visit to Turkey on Saturday, adding the President Ahmad al-Sharaa welcomed Washington’s “fast action on lifting sanctions.”

— The Associated Press