RIYADH: President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, going face-to-face with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by US forces after being captured in Iraq.

Trump agreed to “say hello” to al-Sharaa before the US leader wraps up his stay in Saudi Arabia and heads to Qatar, where Trump is to be honoured with a state visit. His Mideast tour also will take him to the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS stormed Damascus and ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.