US President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday, a White House official said, a day after he pledged to lift sanctions on Syria.

A White House official told AFP that the two leaders met ahead of a broader meeting of Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia during Trump's tour of the region.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan participated in a video conference meeting with his US counterpart, Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Anadolu Agency.

Arab countries welcomed US President Trump's intention to lift sanctions on Syria, while praising the efforts of Türkiye and Saudi Arabia in this regard.

This came according to official positions issued by Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria.

In a speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Trump said the sanctions were "brutal and crippling," and that it was time for Syria to rise up.

He continued, "I will order the lifting of sanctions on Syria to give them a chance to grow and develop."

He added that he made this decision after discussing it with both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Trump added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet his Syrian counterpart in Türkiye, without further details.

Trump met with Gulf leaders and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh before heading to Qatar on the second day of what he described as a "historic" visit to the region, following a busy day in the Saudi capital on Tuesday.

This busy diplomatic day comes on the heels of a multi-billion-dollar trade deal, with the United States and Saudi Arabia signing a series of deals in energy, artificial intelligence, arms, and technology.

Netanyahu tried to thwart Trump's lifting of sanctions on Syria.

An informed source revealed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that during his visit to the United States last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Donald Trump to maintain US sanctions on Syria and refrain from supporting stability there. Netanyahu attributed this to his fear of "a repeat of what happened on October 7, 2023," he claimed.

In the first week of April, US President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. The Israeli Prime Minister told the media at the Oval Office that he and the US President discussed the Syrian issue and told him, "We don't want to see Turkey use Syrian territory as a base against us." He also indicated that they discussed ways to avoid a clash. President Trump responded at the time by saying, "I have a great relationship with Erdogan (the Turkish President). I love him, and he loves me. I told Netanyahu, 'If you have a problem with Turkey, I will help solve it. I don't think that will be a problem, but you have to act rationally to solve any problem.'"

The source revealed that Netanyahu had made demands on both occasions during his visits to Washington not to lift sanctions on Syria, according to what US officials confirmed during discussions on lifting sanctions on Damascus.