US President Trump meets with Syrian President Sharaa in Riyadh Washington Post pool report says

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