After pledging that all sanctions against war-torn Syria would be lifted, President Trump met with Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, on Wednesday in the first meeting of the two countries’ leaders in 25 years, urging him to sign the Abraham Accords.

The informal meeting took place on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during which Mr. Trump urged the new leader to normalize ties with Israel by signing the Abraham Accords, which were brokered by America in 2020. It would join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco in normalizing relations with Israel, according to a post on X from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Syria does not currently recognize the statehood of Israel and the president’s request to sign the accords was just one of the multiple commitments he asked the Syrian leader to make.

He also asked Mr. al-Sharaa to deport Palestinian and all other foreign terrorists, help America prevent ISIS forces from rising, and to assume control of ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria.

The meeting took place after Mr. Trump announced the major shift in American policy, saying that it would give the war-torn nation a “fresh start.”

“We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria’s new government, as you know, beginning with my meeting with President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Secretary Rubio’s meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister in Turkey after discussing the situation with Crown Prince Mohammed,” he said while speaking before the GCC.

“I’m also ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start. It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.”

Syria’s foreign ministry called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”

The lift in sanctions is considered a boost for the interim president who has struggled to bring the country under control of the new government in Damascus after President Assad’s autocratic dictatorship was toppled after a 13-year civil war. 

“I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance,” the president said during the summit. “It’s not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good, strong chance. And it was my honor to do so, so we will be dropping all of the sanctions on Syria, which I think really is going to be a good thing.”