US President Donald Trump met Syria’s interim President and former Islamist rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the summit of the United States and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh today. During the meeting, President Trump urged the Syrian leader to join the Abraham Accords, a US-led initiative for West Asian nations to normalise relations with Israel. He also stated that in the future US will continue to add more countries to the accords. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the war in Gaza were also discussed during the meeting.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was present at the meeting while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined remotely. The meeting comes a day after the US President announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Later in the day, President Trump along with other Gulf nation leaders attended the US-GCC summit.
President Trump reached Saudi Arabia yesterday. On the first day of his visit, the two countries signed a 142 billion dollar defence sales agreement as part of a Saudi Arabian commitment to invest 600 billion dollar in the United States.
The second day of US President’s West Asia tour, will see him head to Qatar later today before he travels to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow.