US President Donald Trump has met Syria's president in Saudi Arabia and urged him to normalise ties with longtime foe Israel, 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.
Photos posted 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 Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined Mr Trump and MbS 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 social media.
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.
The latest reports from medics within the Hamas-run health ministry says Israeli military strikes killed at least 80 Palestinians across Gaza, in an intensification of the bombardment as Mr Trump visits the Middle East.
Mr Trump said yesterday 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, Mr Trump said yesterday he would lift sanctions on Syria in a major policy shift.
He also said Washington was exploring normalising relations with Syria's government beginning with his meeting with Sharaa.
The lifting of sanctions came despite deep Israeli suspicion of Mr Sharaa's administration. Israeli officials have continued to describe Mr Sharaa as a jihadist, though he severed ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The decision is a boost for Mr Sharaa, who has been struggling to bring the country under the control of the Damascus government after toppling former President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Removing US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations and will ease foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds from a civil war.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told a press conference Riyadh will support Syria's economic recovery and that there are many investment opportunities in the country after sanctions are lifted.
US ally Israel has opposed sanctions relief for Syria and has escalated its military operations since Assad was toppled, saying it will not tolerate an Islamist presence in southern Syria.
Israel has seized ground in the southwest of the country, warned the Syrian government against deploying forces there, and has blown 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 also laid bare in March when Assad loyalists attacked government forces, prompting revenge attacks in which Islamist gunmen killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority, drawing strong US condemnation.
Deflecting a question posed on Air Force One about reports the Syrian president wanted a Trump tower in Damascus, Mr Trump said: "He's got the potential - he's a real leader," he said of Mr Sharaa.
Read more:
US signs $142bn Saudi Arabia arms deal, lifts sanctions on Syria
US Senate Democrat to block Trump DoJ nominees over Qatar airplane
Mr Sharaa was for years the leader of al-Qaeda's official wing in the Syrian conflict. He first joined the group in Iraq, where he spent five years in a US prison. The United States removed a $10million bounty his head in December.
The Syrian foreign minister said in a statement that the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr 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 between the Syrian foreign minister and his US counterpart Marco Rubio.
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 $142bn in US arms sales to the kingdom.
Later this afternoon, Mr Trump will fly to the Qatari capital Doha. Qatar, a key US ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US.
While the precise details of the investments Qatar plans to announce were unclear, Qatar Airways was expected to disclose a deal to buy around 100 widebody jets from Boeing, a source familiar with the matter said.
Following his visit to Qatar, Mr Trump will fly to Abu Dhabi to meet the UAE's leaders tomorrow. He is slated to fly back to Washington on Friday, but has said he could fly to Turkey instead for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Trump expressed concerns about the war in Gaza on his Gulf tour.
Prince Faisal said the US and Saudi Arabia agreed to end the Gaza conflict and release all hostages held by Hamas.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
