Trump meets new Syria leader after lifting sanctions

Donald Trump became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader on Wednesday after he offered sanctions relief in hopes of offering a new path to the war-battered country.

Trump, in Riyadh on the first state visit of his second term, met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, an erstwhile Islamist guerrilla turned interim president after the December overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.

The two held brief talks ahead of a larger gathering of Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia during…