US president Donald Trump met Syria‘s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and urged him to normalise ties with long-time foe Israel.
The meeting came after a surprise US announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.
Mr Trump met Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa, who once pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and swept to power at the head of a group that Washington has called a terrorist organisation, before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
Mr Sharaa renounced ties to al-Qaeda in 2016.
Photos posted on Saudi state television showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan joined Mr Trump and the prince virtually in the meeting, Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency reported.
Mr Trump urged Mr Sharaa to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalised relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, the White House press secretary posted on X.
The United States also hopes Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords, but discussions came to a halt after the Gaza war erupted and the kingdom insists there can be no normalisation without Palestinian statehood.
Despite concerns within sectors of his administration about Syrian leaders’ former ties to al-Qaeda, Mr Trump said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh he would lift sanctions on Syria.
Mr Trump’s first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region was marked by lavish ceremony and business deals, including a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.
Later on Wednesday, Mr Trump will fly to Qatari capital Doha, where he will participate in a state visit with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and other officials. Qatar, a key US ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US
US ally Israel has opposed sanctions relief for Syria, but Mr Trump on Tuesday said the Saudi crown prince and Mr Erdogan, who are both close to the US president, encouraged him to make the move.
Mr Trump’s visit to Doha was to follow the White House’s announcement this week that it plans to accept a Boeing 747-8 plane, which would be outfitted to serve as Air Force One, as a gift from the Qataris.
The luxury plane, which would be one of the most valuable gifts ever received by the US government, would eventually be donated to Mr Trump’s presidential library. It has sparked outrage from Democrats and bipartisan security concerns. Some officials have said it could create a perception of corruption, even absent a quid pro quo.
While the precise details of the investments Qatar plans to announce on Wednesday were unclear, Qatar Airways was expected to announce a deal to buy around 100 wide-body jets from Boeing, according to a source.
Following his visit to Qatar, the US president will fly to Abu Dhabi to meetthe UAE’s leaders on Thursday. He is then scheduled to fly back to Washington on Friday but he has said he could fly to Turkey instead for a potential meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. – Reuters
