{"id":7228,"date":"2025-05-14T06:04:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T06:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=7228"},"modified":"2025-05-14T06:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T06:04:22","slug":"trump-to-meet-syrian-president-ahead-of-qatar-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=7228","title":{"rendered":"Trump to meet Syrian president ahead of Qatar visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>US President Donald Trump is set to meet Syria\u2019s newly installed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in a landmark encounter during his Middle East tour, before heading to Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>Al-Sharaa, formerly a senior commander and ex-leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), became Syria\u2019s president following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s meeting with the Al-Sharaa comes as he announces the lifting of longstanding US sanctions on Syria, stating the country deserves \u201ca chance at greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision to meet al-Sharaa was reportedly encouraged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s comments came during an investment forum in Riyadh, where he appeared alongside bin Salman and unveiled a $142 billion US-Saudi arms deal and AI investments worth $20 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Trump is also participating in high-level talks with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman.<\/p>\n<p>The Qatar leg of the trip, however, has sparked political backlash in Washington over reports that Trump may accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.<\/p>\n<p>Trump defended the move, calling it a \u201cgift\u201d that would save taxpayers money, though critics warn it raises ethical and constitutional concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Qatar has played a key role in mediating conflicts in the region, including the Israel-Hamas war and US-Taliban talks.<\/p>\n<p>Trump will conclude his Gulf tour with a final visit to Abu Dhabi later this week.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US President Donald Trump is set to meet Syria\u2019s newly installed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in a landmark encounter during his Middle East tour, before heading to Qatar. Al-Sharaa, formerly a senior commander and ex-leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), became Syria\u2019s president following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. Trump\u2019s meeting with the Al-Sharaa [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}