Trump meets Syrias President Sharaa after lifting sanctions

US President Donald Trump met with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday, a day after his surprise announcement that he was lifting sanctions on Damascus.

The two leaders met ahead of a larger gathering of Gulf Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia during Trump's tour of the region. 

The encounter, hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, marked Syria's most significant re-engagement with the West since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in late 2024.

It was the first time a sitting US president had met with a Syrian head of state in over two decades. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan joined the meeting virtually, Turkey's Anadolu News Agency reported.

Trump used the occasion to call on Syria to join the Abraham Accords, urging Damascus to normalise ties with Israel as part of a broader US-led effort to reshape the region's diplomatic architecture. 

New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch

Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the US under Trump in 2020, are a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

These agreements marked a historic shift in Middle Eastern diplomacy, reversing decades of non-recognition of Israel, but they also drew heavy criticism across the Arab world.

Syria has continued to reject normalisation with Israel, citing the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, which it illegally annexed during the 1967 Middle East war, and its periodic attacks across the country.

Syria's Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani welcomed the US president's decision to lift the sanctions, saying: "Trump can achieve a historic peace agreement and a victory for US interests in Syria." It is unclear what peace agreement Shibani was referring to, but Sharaa confirmed having indirect deconfliction talks with Israel at a press conference with his French counterpart in Paris last week. 

US diplomatic sources told Middle East Eye that Sharaa travelled to Riyadh carrying a proposal, which included a commitment to keeping the Golan Heights demilitarised - effectively ensuring continued Israeli control over the territory.

Sharaa also conveyed Syria's interest in partnering with American companies and signing agreements in the oil and gas sectors, in exchange for lifting sanctions and allowing international involvement in Syria's reconstruction. Additionally, Sharaa pledged to construct one of the tallest towers in the region and name it "Trump Tower" as a symbolic gesture.

According to the sources, Washington received Sharaa's proposal positively, with President Trump reportedly expressing enthusiasm.

Control of IS detention centres 

During Wednesday's high-stakes meeting, Trump also urged Syria's leader, once a detainee in US-run prisons for his early involvement with al-Qaeda in Iraq, to take responsibility for detention centres holding Islamic State group (IS) fighters in northeast Syria and to deport what he called Palestinian "terrorists".

Sharaa spent over five years between 2005 and 2011 behind bars in Iraq during the US occupation after being captured planting explosives.

He later returned to Syria and founded al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, before rebranding it as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in a strategic break from global jihadi networks.

Now at the helm of Syria's transitional government following the ousting of Assad by HTS in late 2024, Sharaa's leadership is being tested on multiple fronts.

US support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which currently manages many of the IS prisons, has waned since Trump took office. Experts have warned that a full US withdrawal from the region could further destabilise these already precarious facilities.

Meanwhile, in recent months, Syria's transitional government under Sharaa has intensified efforts to curtail the influence of Palestinian armed factions within its borders.

In April, following US demands for Syria to dismantle Palestinian armed groups operating on its soil, Syrian authorities detained two senior members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group previously aligned with the Assad government.

The new government has also indicated that Palestinian factions will no longer be permitted to operate militarily within Syria.

middleeasteye.net