President Donald Trump met with Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Wednesday morning during his trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is ‘exploring normalization’ with the war torn nation.
President Recep Erdogan of Turkey joined by phone while Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud joined Trump and al-Sharaa in person.
The sitdown was the first encounter between the American and Syrian leaders in 25 years.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Qatar that the meeting with al-Sharaa went ‘great,’ calling the 42-year-old a ‘young, attractive guy.’
‘Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter,’ the president offered.
al-Sharaa formerly fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq.
‘He’s got a real shot of holding it together. I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn up country,’ Trump said.
Trump had also indicated the meeting went well during his meeting with the Gulf Cooperation Council Wednesday morning.
President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met in Riyadh
‘The cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start. It gives them a chance for greatness,’ Trump said. ‘The sanctions were really crippling.’
‘We are currently exploring normalizing with Syria’s new government,’ Trump announced.
As part of that, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with his Syrian counterpart.
Trump told Al-Sharaa ‘that he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country,’ the White House said in its readout of the meeting.
The president also gave Al-Sharaa a laundry list of objectives, including urging Syria to ‘sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel, tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, help the United States to prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria.’
The leaders – in their 33-minute conversation, also discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the readout said.
Trump appeared to be poised to meet with al-Sharaa on Tuesday, answering a question from the Daily Mail outside the Royal Court suggesting that he thought the meeting was happening.
The White House later confirmed that Trump and al-Sharaa would ‘say hello’ as the president was scheduled to meet members of the Gulf Cooperation Council Wednesday morning before jetting off to Doha, Qatar for the second leg of his three-state Middle East swing.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa is still on a U.S. terror watchlist due to his previous participation in al-Qaeda in Iraq. He’s since renounced Islamic jihadism against western nations like the United States
The Trump-al-Sharaa meeting comes after the president announced Tuesday evening that he would drop U.S. sanctions on Syria, leftover from the brutal Assad regime.
‘I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,’ Trump told those attending the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum that the president was hosting alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
‘Now is their time to shine,’ the president added.
The president revealed to the audience that MBS, as well as Erdogan, had pressed Trump on the Syrian sanctions issue. Turkey was a main backer to al-Sharaa and his rebel faction.
‘Oh, what I do for the crown prince,’ the president said with a laugh.
The president received a standing ovation from the audience with the sanctions announcement.
But not everyone was happy with the decision.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked Trump not to lift sanctions on Syria, making the request during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last month, an Israeli official told the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump told the Gulf Cooperation Council that the U.S. is ‘exploring normalizing with Syria’s new government’
Netanyahu was concerned that Syria could launch an attack similar to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault. Israel also fears al-Sharaa and his Islamist past could pose a threat on its northern border.
Ahead of Trump’s trip al-Sharaa floated a number of things he’d be willing to do to get sanctions relief from the Americans.
He floated the idea of building a Trump Tower Damascus and said Syria would give the U.S. some of its oil. al-Sharaa also said he’d be open to a detente with Israel, which has ramped up military operations in parts of Syria.
The president said he was unaware of al-Sharaa pushing a Trump Tower Damascus.
‘No, that I haven’t heard,’ Trump said on Air Force One. ‘Well have to wait a little while things calm down, a little while with that country.’
‘I think he’s got the potential to do – he’s a real leader. He led a charge and he’s pretty amazing,’ Trump said.
Syrian rebels toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December, with al-Sharaa officially becoming the country’s president in January.
al-Sharaa is still on a U.S.-designated terror list as a former member of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
President Donald Trump (left), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second left), Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa (right), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (center) and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (second right) met for about 30 minutes
In more recent times, the Syrian politician has renounced Islamic jihadism against western nations like the United States.
al-Sharaa was actually born in the same city where he will meet with Trump – Riyadh.
He came from a Syrian Sunni Muslim family and grew up in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
During the 2003 Iraq war, al-Sharaa left Syria and went to Iraq to fight as part of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
al-Sharaa was a rebel commander during the Syrian civil war.
