Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Ankara on Wednesday for a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
The summit, which ends on Wednesday, has brought together leaders from NATO member states as well as several representatives from Gulf countries.
Al-Sharaa was invited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Trump, who has repeatedly praised Erdoğan, described the Syrian leader, a former fighter with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, as “tough.”
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip Erdoğan'ın ev sahipliğinde gerçekleştirilen 36. NATO Devlet ve Hükümet Başkanları Zirvesi kapsamında ülkemize gelen Suriye Cumhurbaşkanı Sayın Ahmet eş-Şara'yı Ankara'da Esenboğa Havalimanı'nda karşıladık.
Türkiye, diplomasiyi, bölgesel… pic.twitter.com/ENpv9SOBm8
— Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat (@omerbolatTR) July 8, 2026
“Because of the president [Erdoğan], we have a very good relationship with Syria’s new leader,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
“He’s done an amazing job in a year and a half, he’s pulled the whole country together. And I have a very, very good relationship with him.
“Somebody said, well, he’s pretty tough … I approved him along with the president [Erdoğan]. We were the two that really wanted him. And he’s done a great job, he’s pulled it together. Not an easy job.”
Thirteen years of war have devastated Syria, which needs international support to rebuild and still faces major security threats.
On Tuesday 18 people were wounded in two bomb attacks in Damascus near a hotel where visiting French President Emmanuel Macron was staying.
Al-Sharaa visited Washington in November of last year to seek financial support for Syria.
But last month he rejected calls from Trump to intervene militarily in neighboring Lebanon against the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah, which is in open conflict with Israel.
“We are looking for economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones,” he said in an interview last month.
© Agence France-Presse