By Gram Slattery, Pesha Magid and Andrew Mills
RIYADH (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump was set to meet Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday following a surprise announcement that the United States would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government despite lingering concerns about its leaders’ former ties to Al Qaeda.
Despite concerns within sectors of his administration, Trump said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh he would lift sanctions on Syria. The U.S. president has agreed to say hello to interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who will be in Riyadh for meetings with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Trump’s first day of a four-day swing through the Gulf region was marked by lavish ceremony and business deals, including a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S. and $142 billion in U.S. arms sales to the kingdom.
Later on Wednesday, Trump will fly to Qatari capital Doha, where he will participate in a state visit with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and other officials. Qatar, a key U.S. ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the U.S.
U.S. ally Israel has opposed sanctions relief for Syria, but Trump on Tuesday said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who are both close to the U.S. president, encouraged him to make the move.
His interactions with Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda commander who led rebel forces that toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, will be closely watched as observers gauge how serious Washington is about resetting its relationship with Damascus.
Sharaa renounced ties to al Qaeda in 2016.
Trump’s visit to Doha was to follow the White House’s announcement this week that it plans to accept a Boeing 747-8 plane, which would be outfitted to serve as Air Force One, as a gift from the Qataris.
The luxury plane, which would be one of the most valuable gifts ever received by the U.S. government, would eventually be donated to Trump’s presidential library. It has sparked outrage from Democrats and bipartisan security concerns. Some officials have said it could create a perception of corruption, even absent a quid pro quo.
While the precise details of the investments Qatar plans to announce on Wednesday were unclear, Qatar Airways was expected to announce a deal to buy around 100 widebody jets from Boeing, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Following his visit to Qatar, Trump will fly to Abu Dhabi to meet with the UAE’s leaders on Thursday. He is then slated to fly back to Washington on Friday, but he has said he could fly to Turkey instead for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Pesha Magid in Riyadh and Andrew Mills in Doha; Editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
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