Trump met 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 Persian 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 Tayyip Erdogan joined Trump and MbS virtually in the meeting, Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency reported.
Trump urged Sharaa to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalised relations with Israel under the U.S.-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.
Trump stated 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 added 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 Sharaa’s administration.
Israeli officials have continued to describe Sharaa as “a jihadist”, though he severed ties with al Qaeda in 2016.
The decision is a major boost for 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 U.S. sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, easing 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.
U.S. ally Israel has opposed sanctions relief for Syria and has escalated its military operations since Assad was toppled.
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 gunmen killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority, drawing 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, where he spent five years in a U.S. prison. The United States removed a $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head in December.
The Syrian foreign minister announced in a statement on Wednesday that 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 Daesh.
This meeting will be followed by another between the Syrian foreign minister and his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio.
