RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — PresidentDonald Trumpis set to meet Wednesday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa,going face-to-facewith the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by U.S. forces after being captured in Iraq. The White House said Trump has agreed to "say hello" to al-Sharaa before the U.S. leader wraps uphis stay in Saudi Arabiaand heads to Qatar, where Trump is to be honored with a state visit. His Mideast tour also will take him to the United Arab Emirates. Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa'sHayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stormed Damascus andended the 54-year rule of the Assad family. Trump said he agreed to meet with al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president also pledged to lift yearslong sanctions on Syria. "There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace," Trump said in awide-ranging foreign policy addressTuesday in which he announced he was lifting the sanctions that have been in place in Syria since 2011. "That's what we want to see in Syria." Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq. The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida. Al-Sharaa came back to his home country of Syria after the conflict began in 2011 and led al-Qaida's branch that used to be known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links with al-Qaida. The sanctions go back to the rule of Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December, and were intended to inflict major pain on his economy. Both the Biden and Trump administrations had left the sanctions in place after Assad's fall as they sought to take the measure of al-Sharaa, who has renounced his past affiliation with al-Qaida. Trump is also set to attend a meeting Wednesday of the Gulf Cooperation Council, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, before setting off for Qatar, the second stop in his Mideast tour. Qatar, like the other Gulf Arab states, is an autocratic nation where political parties are banned and speech is tightly controlled. It is overseen by its ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Sheikh Tamim, 44, took power in June 2013 when his father stepped down. Oil exports in Qatar began after World War II, though it would take until 1997 before Qatar began shipping out liquefied natural gas to the world. That brought unfathomable wealth — and new influence — to this small nation that sticks out like a thumb into the Persian Gulf. Qatar founded the satellite news network Al Jazeera, which brought an Arab perspective to mass media that helped fuel the 2011 Arab Spring protests. The network also became famous for running statements from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Qatar follows an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism born out of Saudi Arabia. However, Qatar struck a different tack in the Arab Spring by backing Islamists, including Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, as well as those who rose up against Assad. Its support of Islamists, in part, led to a yearslong boycott of the country by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That boycott only ended as then-President Joe Biden prepared to enter the White House in 2021. Qatar also has served as a key mediator, particularly with the militant group Hamas as the international community pursues a ceasefire for the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Qatar also served as host of the negotiations between the United States and the Taliban that led to America's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. Qatar is home to Al-Udeid Air Base, a sprawling facility that hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command. The oil-rich country is also in thecenter of a controversyover its offer to provide Trump with the gift of a luxuryBoeing747-8 that the U.S. could use as Air Force One while new versions of the plane are under construction by Boeing. The Qatari government has said a final decision hasn't been made. But Trump has defended the idea as a fiscally smart move for the U.S., even as critics argue it would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government. Trump has indicated he would refurbish the aircraft and it would later be donated to his post-White House presidential library. He says he would not use the plane once he leaves office. The president, early Wednesday in a social media post, said the plane "is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years." "Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done," Trump added. "This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country."
