On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia. Trump urged him to normalize ties with Israel, a longtime foe. This followed a surprise U.S. announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.
Trump met Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries. Photos on Saudi state television showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan joined Trump and MbS virtually in the meeting. Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency reported this.
Trump urged Sharaa to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. They normalized relations with Israel under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020. The White House press secretary posted this on X.
The United States also hopes Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords. Discussions on the issue halted after the Gaza war erupted. The kingdom insists there can be no normalisation without Palestinian statehood.
Trump said on Tuesday, “Saudi Arabia would join the accords in its own time.”
Despite concerns within sectors of his administration over Syria’s leaders’ former ties to Al Qaeda, Trump made a statement. During a speech in Riyadh on Tuesday he said, “he would lift sanctions on Syria in a major policy shift.”
He also said Washington was exploring normalising relations with Syria’s government. This would begin with his meeting with Sharaa.
The lifting of sanctions is a major boost for Syria’s new leaders. This is despite deep Israeli suspicion of Sharaa’s administration and worries initially shared by some U.S. officials. Israeli officials continue to describe Sharaa as a jihadist. He severed ties with al Qaeda in 2016. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Removing U.S. sanctions will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria. These sanctions cut Syria off from the global financial system. This will ease foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.
U.S. ally Israel has opposed sanctions relief for Syria. Israel has escalated its military operations since Assad was toppled. It says, “it will not tolerate an Islamist presence in southern Syria.”
Israel has seized ground in the southwest of the country. It warned the Syrian government against deploying forces there. They also “blew up much of the Syrian military’s heavy weapons and equipment in the days after Assad fell.”
The challenges facing Syria’s new government were laid bare in March. Assad loyalists attacked government forces, prompting revenge attacks. Islamist gunmen killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority. This drew strong U.S. condemnation.
Sharaa was for years the leader of al Qaeda’s official wing in the Syrian conflict. He first joined the group in Iraq. He spent five years in a U.S. prison there. The United States removed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head in December.
The Syrian foreign minister made a statement on Wednesday. He said, “the meeting between Trump and Sharaa included discussions about combating terrorism and cooperation in eliminating the influence of non-state actors and armed groups that threaten Syrian stability, including ISIS.”
This meeting will be followed by another. The Syrian foreign minister and his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio will meet.
Trump’s first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region was marked by lavish ceremony and business deals. These deals included a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S. and $142 billion in U.S. arms sales to the kingdom.
Later on Wednesday, Trump will fly to the Qatari capital Doha. He will participate in a state visit with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and other officials. Qatar, a key U.S. ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the U.S.
Trump’s visit to Doha was to follow the White House’s announcement this week. They plan to accept a Boeing 747-8 plane as a gift from the Qataris. They would outfit it to serve as Air Force One.
The luxury plane would be one of the most valuable gifts ever received by the U.S. government. It would eventually be donated to 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. They will buy around 100 widebody jets from Boeing, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Following his visit to Qatar, Trump will fly to Abu Dhabi to meet the UAE’s leaders on Thursday. He is then slated 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.”
Click here for more World news.