VIDEO - Trump meets with Syrian President al-Sharaa after vowing to cut sanctions

US President Donald Trump asked Syria's new leader on Wednesday to normalise relations with “Israel” after he offered a major boost to the war-ravaged country by announcing the lifting of sanctions.

Trump, on a state visit to Riyadh, became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader – Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Syrian president and Trump, wearing matching suits, shook hands as they met jointly with Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and, by video link, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the key supporter of the new government in Damascus.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia had both advocated reconciliation with Syria but the move is the latest to put Trump at odds with “Israel”, which has voiced pessimism over Sharaa and ramped up strikes to degrade the longtime adversary's military capabilities.

The White House said that Trump asked the Syrian leader to normalise relations with “Israel” by joining the so-called Abraham Accords signed by some Gulf Arab states.

Trump also asked Sharaa for the new Syrian authorities to take control of camps for captured Daesh fighters, currently run by Kurdish guerrillas opposed by Turkey, the White House said.

After the longer-than-expected half-hour meeting, Trump said that the Assad-era sanctions had been "really crippling" on Syria.

"It's not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good, strong chance, and it was my honour to do so," Trump said, addressing a summit of Gulf Arab leaders.

Read more: Syria welcomes Trump’s remarks on lifting sanctions

No US president has met a Syrian leader since Bill Clinton saw Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, in Geneva in 2000 in a failed effort to persuade him to make peace with “Israel”.

Trump announced on Tuesday that he was lifting "brutal and crippling" Assad-era sanctions on Syria in response to demands from Sharaa's allies in Turkey and Saudi Arabia -- in his latest step out of tune with US ally “Israel”.

Trump said it was Syrians' "time to shine" and that easing sanctions would "give them a chance at greatness".

Syrians celebrated the news, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus's Umayyad Square.

The Syrian foreign ministry called Trump's decision a "pivotal turning point" that would help bring stability.

The United States imposed sweeping restrictions on financial transactions with Syria during the brutal civil war and made clear it would use sanctions to punish anyone involved in reconstruction so long as Assad remained in power without accountability for atrocities.

Trump gave no indication that the United States would remove Syria from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism – a designation dating back to 1979 over support to Palestinian militants that severely impedes investment.

Opening way for investment

Other Western powers including the European Union have already moved to lift sanctions but the United States had earlier held firm on conditions.

A senior envoy of the Joe Biden administration met Sharaa in Damascus in December and called for commitments, including on the protection of minorities.

“Israel” has kept up a bombing campaign against Syria both before and after the fall of Assad, with “Israel” pessimistic about change under Sharaa and hoping to degrade the military capacity of its longtime adversary.

Rabha Seif Allam of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo said that the easing of US sanctions would allow Syria to reintegrate with the global economy, including by allowing bank transfers from investors and some of the millions of Syrians who fled during the civil war.

"Lifting sanctions will give Syria a real opportunity to receive the funding needed to revive the economy, impose central state authority and launch reconstruction projects with clear Gulf support," she said.

Qatar plane controversy

Trump will also attend a meeting of Gulf Arab states in Riyadh before flying on to Qatar.

The Doha visit comes after controversy over Qatar's offer to Trump of a USD 400 million luxury aircraft to serve as a new Air Force One and then go to his personal use.

The move raises major constitutional and ethical questions – as well as security concerns about a foreign power donating the ultra-sensitive presidential jet.

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, on Tuesday vowed to hold up all Justice Department political appointees in protest over the move.

Qatar has been a key intermediary with Hamas, helping Washington negotiate directly the release this week from Gaza of joint US-“Israeli” national Edan Alexander.

Qatar, alongside Egypt and the United States, hammered out a ceasefire between “Israel” and Hamas in Gaza that came into effect on January 19 – a day before Trump's inauguration.

“Israel” has ended the ceasefire and vowed a new offensive to finish Hamas. It has blocked all aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, prompting warnings of impending famine.