Trump meets Syrian President Sharaa, urges him to establish ties with Israel

RIYADH - US President Donald Trump met Syria’s leader in Saudi Arabia on May 14 and urged him to normalise ties with long-time foe Israel, after a

surprise US announcement it would lift all sanctions

on the Islamist-led government.

Mr Trump met Syria’s President Ahmed 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 Gulf Arab countries.

He urged Mr 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.

Mr Trump said he thought Syria would join at some point, according to a Washington Post pool report.

“I think they have to get themselves straightened up. I told him, ‘I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ But they have a lot of work to do,” said Mr Trump.

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.

Mr Trump’s Middle East trip has fuelled doubts in Israel about where the country stands in Washington’s priorities.

The US exploring the possibility of normalising ties with Syria, one of Israel’s biggest longstanding foes, and holding nuclear talks with its other enemy Iran has sidelined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies in the government.

Israel considers Iran’s nuclear programme “an existential threat” and does not trust Syria’s new Islamist president.

Despite concerns within sectors of his administration over Syrian leaders’ former ties to Al-Qaeda, Mr Trump said on May 13 he would lift sanctions on Syria in a major policy shift.

Israel remains deeply suspicious of Mr Sharaa’s administration and Israeli officials have continued to describe him as a jihadist, though he severed ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016.

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Trump, who said his Gulf region trip does not sideline Israel, told reporters the fact that he has relationships with countries in the Middle East is “very good for Israel”.

He said the meeting with Mr Sharaa, who he described as a young, attractive guy with a very strong past, was “great”.

“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” said Mr Trump.

Mr 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 US prison.

The US removed a US$10 million (S$13 million) bounty on Mr Sharaa’s head in December.

The US also hopes regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords.

However, discussions came to a halt after the Gaza war erupted and the kingdom insists there can be no normalisation without Palestinian statehood.

Boost for Syria’s new leaders

The decision to lift sanctions is a major boost for Mr 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 US sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations 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 that there are many investment opportunities in Syria and Riyadh will support its economic recovery.

Israel, which counts the US as its strongest ally, opposes sanctions relief for Syria and has escalated military strikes there since Mr Assad was toppled, saying it will not tolerate an Islamist presence in southern Syria.

The challenges facing Syria’s new government were laid bare in March when Assad loyalists attacked government forces, prompting revenge attacks in which Islamist gunmen killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority, drawing strong US condemnation.

The Syrian foreign minister said in a statement on May 14 that the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Sharaa included discussions about combating terrorism and cooperation in eliminating the influence of armed groups that threaten Syrian stability, including ISIS.

This meeting will be followed by another between the Syrian foreign minister and his US counterpart Marco Rubio.

Business deals

Mr Trump’s first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region brought a US$600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and US$142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.

Later on May 14, Mr Trump arrived at the Qatari capital Doha.

Qatar, a key US ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US.

Mr Trump isolated Qatar in 2017, when he lent initial support to a trade and diplomatic embargo that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed on Doha, one of the worst crises Qatar had ever faced.

Gas-rich Qatar has since rehabilitated itself in the eyes of the US.

It punches above its weight in investments and diplomacy, and this is the first visit to Qatar by a US president in 23 years.

Following his visit to Qatar, Mr Trump will fly to Abu Dhabi to meet the UAE’s leaders on May 15.

He is slated to fly back to Washington on May 16.

However, Mr Trump has said he could fly to Turkey instead for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Trump expressed concerns about the war in Gaza on his Gulf tour. Prince Faisal said the US and Saudi Arabia agreed to end the Gaza conflict and release all hostages held by Hamas.REUTERS