Follow for live updates as Trump continues his Middle East trip in Saudi Arabia and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies on Capitol Hill.

By Yousef Saba, Gram Slattery, Pesha Magid and Nafisa Eltahir RIYADH (Reuters) -President Donald Trump kicked off his trip to the Gulf on Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the United States will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria,

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met online with U.S. President Donald Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

The US president gets a "lavender-carpet" reception on a whirlwind visit of Gulf countries mainly focused on shoring up investment.

U.S. President Donald Trump was set to meet Syria's president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday following a surprise announcement that the United States would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government despite lingering concerns about its leaders' former ties to Al Qaeda.

President Donald Trump will meet with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime insurgent who last year led the overthrow of former leader Bashar Assad.

Donald Trump became the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader on Wednesday after he offered sanctions relief in hopes of offering a new path to the war-battered country.Trump, in Riyadh on the first state visit of his second term,

President Trump said he will move to normalize relations and lift sanctions on Syria's new government to give the country "a chance at peace."

RIYADH - U.S. President Donald Trump began a meeting with Syria's president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to a Washington Post pool report, after a surprise U.S. announcement it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.