Trump to meet Syria's president before heading to Qatar on his Mideast tour

Trump to meet with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former insurgent leader, during Mideast tour.

President Donald Trump is set to meet Wednesday (May 14, 2025) with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, going face-to-face with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by U.S. forces after being captured in Iraq.

The White House said Mr. Trump has agreed to “say hello” to al-Sharaa before the U.S. leader wraps up his stay in Saudi Arabia and heads to Qatar, where Mr. Trump is to be honoured with a state visit. His Mideast tour also will take him to the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. al-Sharaa was named President of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by Mr. al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stormed Damascus and ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.

Mr. Trump said he agreed to meet with al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The President also pledged to lift yearslong sanctions on Syria.

“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Mr. Trump said in a wide-ranging foreign policy address Tuesday (May 13, 2025) in which he announced he was lifting the sanctions that have been in place in Syria since 2011. “That's what we want to see in Syria.”

Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, Mr. al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq. The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida.

Mr. al-Sharaa came back to his home country of Syria after the conflict began in 2011 and led al-Qaida's branch that used to be known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links with al-Qaida.