REUTERS, Riyadh

US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia yesterday 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.

Trump met Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa 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 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 US-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. Discussions on the issue came to a halt after the Gaza war erupted and 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 said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh 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.