Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to a report in they Syrian state news agency SANA.
The report included two photographs showing Sharaa shaking hands with Trump. First Lady Melania Trump was present at the meeting as well.
Wednesday marks the second time the two leaders have met. Trump and Sharaa previously met in Riyadh this past May, during Trump’s visit to the Middle East.
That meeting marked the first meeting between a US president and a Syrian president in 25 years. During that meeting, Trump described Sharaa as a “tough guy” and a “fighter” with a “very strong past.”
In late August, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control officially revoked the US sanctions regulations on the Syrian government.
The move followed Trump’s executive order on June 30, which removed the longstanding sanctions on the Syrian government while maintaining sanctions on the deposed regime of Bashar Assad and other destabilizing actors.