RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 13 -- President Donald Trump will meet Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime insurgent who last year led the overthrow of former leader Bashar Assad.

"The President agreed to say hello to the Syrian President while in Saudi Arabia tomorrow," the White House said, reports AP.

The US has been weighing how to handle al-Sharaa since he took power in December. Gulf leaders, have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and will want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran's return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad's government during a decade-long civil war.

Then-President Joe Biden left the decision to Trump, whose administration ha...