U.S. President Donald Trump urged Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to recognise Israel and normalise ties with it, the White House said.
The two held a meeting earlier on Wednesday in Riyadh, attended by Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump urged al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, which saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establish ties with Israel in 2020, during Trump’s first term in office.
Addressing a summit with several Gulf leaders after the meeting with al-Sharaa, Trump praised the UAE and Bahrain “for their vision and courage in signing the historic Abraham Accords.’’
“I hope in the near future we can continue this progress, by adding more countries to the Abraham Accords,’’ he told the gathering, saying he expects it would be filling up very rapidly.
According to the White House, al-Sharaa affirmed his commitment to the 1974 disengagement agreement, which governs the ceasefire lines between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights.