Trump urges Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to sign Abraham Accords recognizing Israel
President Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, urging him to sign the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel. Trump also requested Syria expel foreign terrorists, deport Palestinian terrorists, assist in preventing ISIS’s rise, and take responsibility for ISIS detention centers. This meeting marks the first time a US president has met a Syrian leader in 25 years.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to sign the Abraham Accords in a previously unplanned meeting on Wednesday, one day after lifting all sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a Gulf Cooperation Council gathering in Riyadh, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoning into the conversation.
Syria currently doesn’t recognize Israel’s statehood, and the Abraham Accords were just one of Trump’s requests to Syria in an effort to normalize relations.
Trump also told the Syrian leader to make all foreign terrorists leave Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, help the US prevent the rise of ISIS, and take responsibility for the ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria, per the White House.
Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria led to a standing ovation from Saudi leaders and businessmen at an investment forum on Tuesday.
“I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance,” Trump said at the GCC meeting on Wednesday. “Gives them a good, strong chance … it was my honor to do so.
“We are currently exploring normalizing with Syria’s new government,” he said.
Al-Sharaa, 42, is a career militant who fought US troops as a member of Al Qaeda in Iraq in the early 2000s before founding the terrorist group’s Nusra Front affiliate in Syria in 2012.
He broke with al Qaeda’s leadership in 2016 and has sought to rebrand himself as a defender of Syria’s religious diversity, which includes Christians and Alawites, both of whom comprise more than 10% of the population, and Druze, who comprise about 3%.
Trump called on Syria to recognize Israel after also calling on Saudi Arabia to do so, saying Tuesday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would “be greatly honoring me” by doing so.
The Abraham Accords were negotiated in 2020 during Trump’s first term by his son-in-law and then-White House adviser Jared Kushner.
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates initially agreed to establish relations with Israel under the accords, and later were joined by Morocco and Sudan.
The Jewish state previously had relations with two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, as part of prior peace deals.
Syria recognizing Israel would be a shocking development, including because the government of Turkey, al-Sharaa’s essential patron, has poor relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli military recently bombed Syria to defend Druze citizens during sectarian violence.
Israel also has annexed the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria in 1967, to halt rocket fire from the sparsely populated and mountainous region. Trump recognized Israel’s annexation of the region during his first term, despite most countries considering the area an occupied part of Syria.
