DONALD Trump yesterday hailed a former terrorist warlord as “a young, attractive guy”.
The maverick US President gushed with praise after meeting Ahmed al-Sharaa, who ousted Syrian tyrant Bashar al Assad last year.
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Trump also agreed to lift US economic sanctions on Syria which have been in place since 2011.
Sharaa, previously linked to al-Qaeda, spent years in US custody after being captured in Iraq and once had a £7.5million bounty on his head.
Now interim Syrian president, he shook hands yesterday with Trump in Riyadh, along with Saudi Arabia’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also joined a meeting by video link, which Trump later said went “great”.
He described Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
But it puts Trump at odds with Israel, which issued warnings against the former terror master and has continued military action against its long-standing enemy.
Asked if Sharaa can normalise relations with Israel, Trump said: “I told him, ‘I hope you’re going to join once you’re straightened out and he said yes’. But they have a lot of work to do.”
Trump also asked him to deport Palestinian militants and order foreign fighters to leave the country.
He also claimed he “wants to make a deal” with Iran.
Trump said: “It must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
He later touched down in Qatar, where he was given a red-carpet greeting from Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Trump is to be controversially offered a “gift” of a £300million “flying palace” to replace Air Force One as he carves more huge trade deals.
