RIYADH — US President Donald J. Trump kicked off his trip to the Gulf on Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the US would lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, and a $600-billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US.

The US agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to the White House, which called it the largest “defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

The end of sanctions on Syria would be a huge boost for a country that has been shattered by more than a decade of civil war. Rebels led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh at the start of a deal-focused trip that also brought a flurry of diplomacy, Mr. Trump said he was acting on a request to scrap the sanctions by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,”Mr. Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience. He said the sanctions had served an important function but that it was now time for the country to move forward.

The move represents a major US policy shift. The US declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, added sanctions in 2004 and imposed further sanctions after the civil war broke out in 2011.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on X the planned move marked a “new start” in Syria’s path to reconstruction. Mr. Trump has agreed to briefly greet Mr. Al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a White House official said.

Mr. Trump and the Saudi crown prince signed an agreement covering energy, defense, mining and other areas. Mr. Trump has sought to strengthen relations with the Saudis to improve regional ties with Israel and act as a bulwark against Iran.

The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen US defense companies for areas including air and missile defense, air force and space, maritime security and communications, according to a White House fact sheet.

It was not clear whether the deal included Lockheed F-35 jets, which sources say have been discussed. The Saudi prince said the total package could reach $1 trillion when further agreements are reached in the months ahead.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for US arms, and the two countries have maintained strong ties for decades based on an arrangement in which the kingdom delivers oil and the superpower provides security.

But relations were strained after the 2018 murder of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul caused a global uproar. US intelligence concluded that bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a prominent critic, but the Saudi government has denied any involvement.

Mr. Trump did not mention the incident during his visit and called bin Salman an “incredible man.” “I really believe we like each other a lot.”

Mr. Trump will go on from Riyadh to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in a trip that is focused on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.

Several US business leaders attended the event, including Elon Musk, the Tesla chief who has led a government-downsizing effort for Mr. Trump in Washington, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Altman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.

Mr. Trump was shown speaking with several Saudi officials, including sovereign wealth fund governor Yasir al-Rumayyan, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser and investment minister Khalid al-Falih as he viewed models for the kingdom’s flashy, multibillion-dollar development projects.

Mr. Bin Salman has focused on diversifying the Saudi economy in a major reform program dubbed Vision 2030 that includes “giga-projects” such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium. Oil generated 62% of Saudi government revenue last year.

The kingdom has scaled back some of its ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh.

NO VISIT TO ISRAEL
Mr. Trump has not scheduled a stop in Israel, raising questions about where the close ally stands in Washington’s priorities as Mr. Trump presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a new ceasefire deal in the 19-month-old Gaza war.

Israel’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its assassinations of the two Iran-allied groups’ leaders, have at the same time given Trump more leverage by weakening Tehran and its regional allies.

Mr. Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would soon normalize relations with Israel, following other Arab states that did so during his first 2017-2021 term. “But you’ll do it in your own time.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress with the Saudis unlikely, sources told Reuters.

Mr. Trump on Tuesday called Iran “the most destructive force” in the Middle East and warned that the US would never allow it to obtain a nuclear weapon. He said he was willing to strike a new deal with the Islamic Republic but only if its leaders changed course.

“I want to make a deal with Iran,” he said. “But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON — Days before a surprise US ceasefire agreement with Houthis, US intelligence started picking up indications the Yemeni fighters were looking for an exit after seven weeks of relentless US bombings, four US officials said.

Houthi leaders began reaching out sometime around the first weekend in May to US allies in the Middle East, two of the officials said.

“We started getting intel that the Houthis had had enough,” one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity to recount the internal discussions about the intelligence, which haven’t been previously reported.

Interviews with current and former US officials, diplomatic sources and other experts show how a campaign that the US military’s Central Command once envisioned might stretch through most of this year came to an abrupt halt on May 6 after 52 days, allowing President Donald J. Trump to declare victory before heading to the Middle East this week.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have disrupted commerce by launching hundreds of drone and missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel in solidarity with Palestinians over the war in Gaza.

Two sources said Iran played an important role in encouraging the Iran-aligned Houthis to negotiate, as Tehran pursues its own talks with the US over its nuclear program aimed at ending crippling US sanctions and preventing a military strike by the US or Israel.

But the culmination of the ceasefire accord underscored how quickly the Trump administration moved on initial intelligence to secure what in March seemed unthinkable to many experts in the short term: a Houthi declaration it would stop striking US ships.

Mr. Trump’s unconventional approach included bypassing close US ally Israel, which is not covered by the agreement, and which was not told ahead of time, an Israeli official and a person familiar with the matter said.

The Houthis weren’t the only ones feeling pressure. The bombing campaign has also been costly to the US, which has burned through munitions and lost two aircraft and multiple drones.

After the early May tips on the Houthis, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated a series of meetings at the White House on Monday morning, and concluded there was a window of opportunity with the Iran-aligned fighters, one of the officials said.

Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who was already leading US negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, worked through Omani mediators and held indirect talks with the chief Houthi negotiator and spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, two US officials told Reuters.

Mr. Abdulsalam was in turn in contact with the Houthis’ top leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, one of the officials said.

A framework agreement was reached later on Monday, one of the officials said.

By Tuesday, May 6, Mr. Trump was ready to announce an accord, declaring the Houthis had capitulated.

“They said please don’t bomb us any more, and we’re not going to attack your ships,” he told reporters.

Asked about Reuters’ findings, the Houthis’ Abdulsalam said the group communicated only via Oman and agreed to the ceasefire because the Houthis had been responding to the US defensively.

“So if they stopped their aggression, we stopped our response,” Mr. Abdulsalam told Reuters, declining further comment.

A spokesperson for Mr. Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

OFF-RAMP
Each side saw some benefit to striking a deal. For the Houthis, it offered an off-ramp that could allow them to rebuild and relieve pressure that, over months or years, could have strategically put them at risk, US officials and experts say.

Washington’s allies in the region also wanted out, one source said.

“Because if the Houthis were under more pressure, their response was going to be to fire on the Saudis or the Emiratis,” one person familiar with the matter said.

At the start of the US campaign on March 15, Mr. Al-Houthi was defiant, saying in a televised address that his fighters would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continued its attacks on Yemen.

At the time, it appeared the US might be locked in a costly standoff with a group known for its resiliency, as US forces used up munitions during more than 1,100 strikes. Mr. Hegseth said the US would only halt its bombings once the Houthis agreed to stop striking US ships and drones.

The Houthis shot down seven US MQ-9 drones — each worth tens of millions of dollars — since Mr. Trump took office.

The Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, whose deployment in the Middle East was extended by Mr. Hegseth, lost two fighter jets, including one falling from the deck of the ship after the massive vessel was forced to make a hard turn because of a Houthi attack in the area.

Some analysts questioned the wisdom of the US strategy. The Houthis had already endured nearly a decade of heavy strikes launched by a Saudi-led military coalition but were able to rebuild to the point where they could threaten the US Navy and Israel.

One of the US officials said a turning point for the Houthis came on April 17, when the US targeted the Houthi-controlled Ras Isa fuel terminal on the Red Sea coast.

It was the deadliest strike to that point, with the Houthi-run Health Ministry saying 74 people were killed. The Pentagon has not commented on specific numbers of people killed in individual strikes.

“That (damaged) their ability to conduct operations and generate revenue,” the official said, describing efforts to squeeze the group economically.

Asked for comment, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Reuters Mr. Trump’s ceasefire was “another good deal for America and our security.”

“The objective at the outset was securing the freedom of navigation, and that was achieved through the restoration of American deterrence.”

Pentagon spokesperson Marine Colonel Chris Devine said in response to Reuters’ findings that the US military campaign successfully degraded Houthi capabilities and “set the stage for the President to achieve a ceasefire agreement.”

LONGER CAMPAIGN PROPOSED
Mr. Trump’s campaign to weaken the Houthis came after failed attempts to deter and degrade the group during the Biden administration.

The US military’s Central Command recommended a campaign, lasting at least eight months, that would include a gradual shift to more targeted strikes from the broader ones that took place in the first few weeks, the official added.

The bombings cost well over $1 billion, officials say, and killed a significant number of mid-tier Houthi fighters who trained lower-level forces, as well as destroyed multiple command facilities, air defense systems, weapons manufacturing and storage facilities.

They also destroyed stocks of anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, aerial drones and drone ships.

But the strikes didn’t cut Houthi supply lines or fray higher level leadership, and three experts cautioned the group may rapidly recover.

The group’s persistent attacks on Israel also demonstrate that it retains significant capability, despite the US campaign. Those have continued after the May 6 ceasefire announcement.

US officials and other sources also caution that it is unclear how long the ceasefire will hold, and if the Houthis will continue to see the US and Israel as separate threats, especially as Israel retaliates against Yemen.

“Proxies of Iran and Iran don’t distinguish between what is Israel and what is the United States,” one person familiar with the situation said.

“Their view is that anything Israel does is enabled by the United States. So at some point, I think the Houthis will see themselves as trying to hold the United States accountable.” — Reuters

A SERIES of Ukraine drone attacks on the region of Belgorod injured at least 16 people on Tuesday, the governor of the region in Russia’s southwest that borders Ukraine said on Wednesday.

Among the injured were a doctor and a paramedic, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Eight people were hospitalized, he added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its units destroyed 12 drones that Ukraine launched overnight, three of them over the Belgorod region. The ministry reports only the number of drones destroyed, not how many Ukraine launched.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia started with an invasion of Ukraine 2022.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called for direct talks with Ukraine on Thursday, while he called a proposal, issued at the weekend by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies for a 30-day ceasefire, an ultimatum.

Mr. Zelensky on Tuesday said he would attend talks with Russia on the war in Ukraine this week only if  Mr. Putin is also there, and goaded him by saying the Russian leader was scared to meet him face-to-face.

The Kremlin had yet to say whether Mr. Putin will take part in the talks scheduled to be held in Istanbul on Thursday, more than three years into the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

The planned talks have become the main focus of peace efforts led by US President Donald J. Trump, who said he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and has also offered to attend.

Mr. Trump is also sending senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, three sources familiar with the plans said.

Mr. Zelensky said he wanted to negotiate an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a step toward ending the war, and that Mr. Putin should take part in talks because “absolutely everything in Russia” depends on him.

“We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war,” Zelensky told a press conference. But he added: “He (Putin) is scared of direct talks with me.”

Mr. Zelensky said he expected the US and the European Union to impose “strong sanctions” if talks did not take place.

Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to show they are working towards peace after Mr. Trump prioritized ending the war, which has raged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian bombs killed at least three people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Tuesday, a local official said.

Mr. Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine, after ignoring a Ukrainian offer for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Mr. Trump publicly told Mr. Zelensky to accept the proposal.

The Ukrainian leader then said he would be waiting for Mr. Putin in Istanbul on Thursday, though the Kremlin chief had never made clear he intended to travel himself.

Asked who would represent Russia at the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “As soon as the president sees fit, we will announce it.”

TRUMP MAY ATTEND
During a speech in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump said Mr. Rubio would attend the talks on Thursday, as well as others. “We’ll see if we can get it done,” he said.

Mr. Kellogg, in an earlier interview on Fox Business Network, said Mr. Trump would join the talks in Istanbul if Mr. Putin showed up.

“We’re hoping President Putin shows up as well, and then President Trump will be there. This could be an absolutely incredible meeting,” he said. “We can get peace, I really believe, pretty fast if all three leaders sit down and talk.”

Mr. Kellogg told Fox Ukraine was willing to accept a “ceasefire in place” in which Ukrainian and Russian forces would each back up 15 kilometers (9 miles), creating a demilitarized zone. International forces would be stationed west of the Dnipro River as a deterrent.

Ukrainian officials have not publicly said what ceasefire terms it may accept. Russia has said it would not accept international forces in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Newly elected Pope Leo promised Mr. Zelensky on Monday he would do his best to help bring about a just and lasting peace, a Mr. Zelensky aide said.

Reuters reported last year that Mr. Putin was open to discussing a ceasefire with Mr. Trump but that Moscow ruled out making any major territorial concessions and demanded that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.

Ukraine has said it is ready for talks but a ceasefire is needed first, a position supported by its European allies.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow was ready for serious talks on Ukraine but doubted Kyiv’s capacity for negotiations.

The agencies quoted him as saying realities “on the ground” should be recognized, including the incorporation of what Moscow calls “new territories” into Russia — a reference to territory in Ukraine that is occupied by Russian forces.

US officials want Russia to agree to a comprehensive 30-day land, air, sea and critical infrastructure ceasefire, a senior US official said. — Reuters