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.
OAN Staff James Meyers
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.