The U.S. will remove all sanctions on Syria, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told a packed auditorium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the first appearance of his four-day visit to the Middle East. “In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see,” he said in a wide-ranging speech that focused on his own time in office and U.S. relations with the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, in a huge boost for interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as he seeks to stabilise a country shattered by war. Trump made the surprise announcement during a regional tour that began in Saudi Arabia. The White House said Trump would say hello to Sharaa during his Saudi visit, indicating a meeting between the president and a former al Qaeda commander who spent five years in a U.S. prison in Iraq would take place Wednesday. Two sources from the Syrian presidency said Sharaa would travel to Riyadh to meet Trump. The United States imposed tough sanctions on Syria during the rule of Bashar al-Assad, and had kept them in place since he was toppled from power in December after more than 13 years of war.

The United States will remove all sanctions from Syria, Donald Trump announced on Tuesday. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said to applause at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh. ”It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off,” Trump said, “Good luck Syria, show us something very special.” Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, will meet with the new Syrian Foreign minister in Turkey later this week, he added. Trump noted that the US sanctions, which were imposed under the government of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, were important at the time.