U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesady became the first American president to meet with his Syrian counterpart in a quarter of century, holding informal talks with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh.

Sharaa, the heavily-bearded former Islamist insurgent who was once the target of U.S. counterterrorism operations, has taken another step towards full acceptance under President Donald Trump. Trump announced during a trip to Saudi Arabia that he plans to lift sanctions on Syria after the fall of the Iranian-backed administration of former President Bashar al-Assad.

The Trump meeting is symbolic on many levels. It brings to a close a chapter of the Global War on Terror. That war began after 9/11 and saw US troops go to Afghanistan and Iraq. Sharaa went to Iraq to oppose the US occupation there around 2005. He was held at a US-run detention center called Camp Bucca, according to reports.