Trump to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia

US President Donald Trump was set to meet Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday following a surprise announcement that the United States would lift all sanctions on the Syrian government.

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Trump said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh he would lift sanctions on Syria.

The US president has agreed to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who will be in Riyadh for meetings with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Trump’s first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region was marked by 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, Trump will fly to the 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 Trump on Tuesday said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan encouraged him to make the move.

His interactions with al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who led opposition forces that toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, will be closely watched as observers gauge how serious Washington is about resetting its relationship with Damascus.

Al-Sharaa renounced ties to al-Qaeda in 2016.

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 Trump’s presidential library.

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 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 with 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 Zelenskyy.

Reuters

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