President Donald Trump met with Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Wednesday morning during his trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

President Recep Erdogan of Turkey joined by phone while Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud joined Trump and al-Sharaa in person.

Trump indicated the meeting went well.

During the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, it was expressed that ceasing sanctions against Syria could provide the country with a new beginning and the opportunity for greatness.

The sitdown was the first encounter between the American and Syrian leaders in 25 years. 

‘We are currently exploring normalizing with Syria’s new government,’ Trump announced.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met in Riyadh

In a meeting readout, the White House stated that President Trump mentioned to Al-Sharaa the significant opportunity available to him to make a historic impact in Syria.

Furthermore, the President encouraged Syria to engage in the signing of the Abraham Accords with Israel, expel all foreign terrorists from the country, repatriate Palestinian terrorists, collaborate with the United States in preventing the resurgence of ISIS, and take charge of ISIS detention facilities 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. 

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. 

‘Oh, what I do for the crown prince,’ the president said with a laugh.  Turkey was a main backer to al-Sharaa and his rebel faction.

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. 

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. 

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 announced at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that he would end all sanctions on Syria ‘to give them a chance at greatness’ 

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

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.

His meeting with Trump marked the first time a U.S. president and Syrian head of state have greeted each other since the year 2000.