Trump meets Syrian president in Saudi Arabia before heading to Qatar

US President Donald Trump met with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, after a surprise US announcement it would lift all sanctions on the government.

Trump met al-Sharaa before the summit between the US and Gulf Arab countries.

Photos posted on Saudi state television showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia's crown prince.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan joined Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman virtually in the meeting, Turkey's Anadolu News Agency reported.

Trump urged Sharaa to join the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalised relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, the White House press secretary posted on X.

Despite concerns within sectors of his administration, Trump said on Tuesday during a speech in Riyadh he would lift sanctions on Syria.

The decision is a major boost for al-Sharaa, who has been struggling to bring the country under the control of the Damascus government after toppling former President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Trump's first day of a four-day Gulf visit was marked by lavish ceremony and business deals, including a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US 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 US ally, is expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US.

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 Zelenskyy.