U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to halt sanctions against Syria, as he is expected to meet with the country's new president in Riyadh.
"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump said to applause in a speech in Riyadh.
He said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
"There is a new government that will hopefully succeed," Trump said of Syria, adding, "I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special."
Syria welcomed Trump's remarks regarding the lifting of sanctions imposed on Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said in a statement to Reuters.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said he would remove all sanctions against Syria, saying they had served an important function but that it was now time for the country to move forward.
"The president agreed to say hello to the Syrian president while in Saudi Arabia tomorrow," the White House official said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The meeting comes despite misgivings about the direction of Syria from U.S. ally Israel, which has unleashed military strikes on its neighbor both before and after the December fall of dictator Bashar Assad.
Al-Sharaa, who headed an anti-regime coalition that toppled Assad in December, has been pushing for the removal of U.S. sanctions, a step that Trump has said he is considering.
On Monday, he said, "We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start."
The United States has previously said that Syria needs to take further action on key issues, including protections for minorities, for Washington to lift its sanctions, including working to ensure the rights of minorities.
