Click here to subscribe.When President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the encounter went beyond the “hello” the White House had told reporters to expect.

The emirate, once called “a funder of terrorism” by President Trump, has spent lavishly on overhauling its global reputation.

During the second day of Trump's Middle East trip, he announced a major deal between Boeing and Qatar Airways and signed an agreement with Qatar; he also met with Syria's interim president.

It's not just the “gesture” of a USD 400 million luxury plane that President Donald Trump says he's smart to accept from Qatar. Or that he effectively auctioned off the first destination on his first major foreign trip,

President Donald Trump arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday to a royal-purple-carpet rollout and a motorcade ride ensconced by a calvary of Arabian horses – a daylong kickoff to the first major international trip of his second term.

On his trip this week to the Middle East, US President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though his most pressing regional challenges concern two other countries: Israel and Iran.

Trump says he will order cessation of sanctions against Syria President Donald Trump announced that he will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria "in order to give them a chance at greatness.