OAN Staff James Meyers
3:25 PM – Wednesday, May 14, 2025
President Donald Trump called on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords during a brief meeting in Saudi Arabia early on Wednesday. The request comes after Trump lifted all sanctions on Syria.
The announcement, made during Trump’s Middle East tour, marked a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy and was met with ongoing celebration in Damascus — where citizens viewed it as a pivotal step toward economic recovery. The sanctions had been in place for over a decade, severely impacting Syria’s economy.
This also follows after Trump addressed a speech to Saudi Arabia’s leaders on Tuesday. The 47th president similarly urged the oil-rich kingdom to formally recognize Israel and join the Abraham Accords, expressing that such a gesture would be a significant personal honor.
Abraham Accords – Signatory Countries: Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE) – signed on September 15, 2020, Bahrain – signed on September 15, 2020, Sudan – announced normalization on October 23, 2020, and signed on January 6, 2021, and Morocco – announced normalization on December 10, 2020, and signed on December 22, 2020.
Meanwhile, the two leaders, al-Sharaa and Trump, met during the Gulf Cooperation Council gathering in Riyadh, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoning in to hear the discussions.
Currently, Syria doesn’t recognize Israel’s statehood, with the Abraham Accords being one of Trump’s requests to Syria — in a move to help relations between the two neighboring nations.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump told al-Sharaa to “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, help the United States to prevent the resurgence of ISIS,” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria.”
This was the first meeting between leaders of the U.S. and Syria in 25 years.
“I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance,” Trump said at the GCC meeting on Wednesday. “Gives them a good, strong chance … it was my honor to do so.
“We are currently exploring normalizing with Syria’s new government,” he added.
However, multiple reports have stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously asked Trump not to lift the sanctions against Syria. This appeal was made during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C., driven by concerns that lifting the sanctions could embolden hostile actors in Syria and potentially lead to cross-border attacks akin to Hamas’s assault, according to The Times of Israel outlet.
Nonetheless, Syria’s foreign ministry called the meeting with Trump “historic,” but mentioned nothing about the Abraham Accords. Despite that, Trump told the media that Syria’s president supports such a move.
“I told [Sharaa], I hope you’re going to join [the Abraham Accords] once you’re straightened out and he said yes,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “But they have a lot of work to do.”
“Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter,” he continued. “He’s got a real shot at holding it together. I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him,” Trump continued. “He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn-up country.”
Trump further reiterated that he believes the new Syrian government will eventually agree to signing the Abraham Accords.
“I think they have to get themselves straightened up. I told him, ‘I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’ He said, ‘Yes’…”
Al-Sharaa considers himself a former “militant,” and admits that he fought U.S. troops as a member of Al Qaeda in Iraq. He then founded the terrorist group’s Nusra Front affiliate in Syria in 2012. In 2016, al-Sharaa left al Qaeda’s leadership and has looked to “change his ways” ever since — as a defender of Syria’s religious expansion, which includes Christians and Alawites.
However, many Trump critics assert that he is merely disguising his true nature, emphasizing that engaging in negotiations with former terrorists is fundamentally misguided.
If Syria does end up recognizing Israel, it would be a stunning move from a Western leader.
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