US PRESIDENT Donald Trump met Syria’s jihadist interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa today, in the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

The meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh was remarkable, given that Mr Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, had close ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by US troops in Iraq for several years.

It also followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking Mr Trump not to lift sanctions imposed on Syria. 

The request was made during Mr Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last month, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israel has occupied parts of Syria, claiming that the measure guards against  a cross-border attack similar to Hamas’s October 7 2023 assault on southern Israel from Gaza.

The meeting, which reportedly lasted 30 minutes, took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement.

Mr Trump said earlier that he was looking to give Syria, which is emerging from more than a decade of brutal civil war, “a chance at peace” under Mr Sharaa.

The latter was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after insurgent groups led by Mr Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.