Trump urges Syria to create Israeli ties
Saudi Arabia, Qatar expected to invest billions in U.S.
By: Gram Slattery
Pesha Magid
and Andrew Mills
Reuters
DOHA, Qatar - President Donald Trump met with Syria's president in Saudi Arabia on May 14 [2025] and urged him to moralize ties with longtime foe Israel, after a surprise announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.
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Trump met Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa, who once pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and swept to power at the head of a group that Washington has called a terrorist organization, before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
..... He urged Sharraa to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalized relations with Israel under the U. S.-broker Abraham Accords in 2020, the White House press secretary posted on X.
..... Trump said he thought Syria would join at some point, according to a Washington Post pool report.
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"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 Trump.
..... Photos posted on Saudi stat4e Television showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
..... Trump's Middle East trip has fueled doubts in Israel about where the country stands in Washington's priorities.
..... The United States exploring e possibility of normalizing ties with Syria, one of Israel's biggest longstanding foes, and holding nuclear talks with its other enemy Iran has sideline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government allies.
..... Israel considers Iran's nuclear program "an existential threat" and does not trust Syria's new Islamist president.
..... Despite concerns within sectors of his won administration over Syria's leaders' former ties to al-Qaida, Trump said on Tuesday [05/13/2025] he would lift sanctions on Syria in a major policy shift.
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Israel remains deeply suspicious of Sharaa's administration and Israeli officials have continued to describe Sharra as a jihadist, thorough he severered ties with al-Quaida in 2016. The Israeli prime minster's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
..... Trump, who said his Gulf region trip does not sideline Israel, told reporters the fact he has relationships with countries in the Middle East is "very good for Israel."
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He said the meeting with Sharaa, who he described as a young, attractive guy with very strong pass, was "great."
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"He's got a real shot at holding it together," said Trump. Sharra was for years the leader of al-Qaida's officials wing in the Syrian conflict.
..... He first joined the group in Iraq. where he spent five years in a U.S. prison. The United States removed a $10 million bounty on his head in December. [2024]
..... Washington also hopes regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords, but discussions came to a halt after the Gaza war erupted and the kingdom insists there can be no normalization without Palestinian statehood.
..... The decision to life sanctions is a boost for Sharaa, who has been struggling to bring the country under the control of the government after toppling former President Bashar Assad in December. [2024]
..... Removing barriers that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations and will ease foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds form a civil war.
..... Saudis Arabia's Foreign Minster Prince Faisalbin Farhan Al-Saud told a news conference that they are many investigate opportunities in Syria and Riyadh will support its economic recovery.
..... Israel, which counts the United States as its strongest ally, opposes escalated military strikes there since Assad was toppled, saying it will not tolerate an Islamist presence in southern Syria.
..... The challenges facing Syria's new government were also laid bare in March [2025] when Assad loyalists assailed government forces, prompting attacks in which Islamist gunmen killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority, drawing U.S. condemnation.
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The Syrian foreign minister said May 14 [2025] that the meeting between Trump and Sharaa included discussions about combating terrorism and cooperation eliminating the influence of armed groups that threaten Syrian stability, including the Islamic State.
..... Trump's first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region brought a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and $421 billion in U.S. arms sales to the kingdom.
..... Trump then flew to the Qatari capital Doha, which is also expected to announced hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the United States.
..... Trump isolate 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 have ever faced.
..... This is the first visit to Qatar by a U.S. president in 23 years.