Syria's president visits Bahrain and discusses regional affairs with the king

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s president flew to Bahrain Saturday where he discussed mutual relations and regional affairs with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on his latest trip abroad since taking office in January.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said President Ahmad al-Sharaa is heading a high-ranking delegation to Bahrain, a gulf nation that had relations with former President Bashar Assad until his removal from power in early December.

Bahrain's news agency said the two leaders discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting them, as well as regional affairs and ways of backing Syria's security and stability.

Al-Sharaa’s visit to Bahrain comes days before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the region for talks with leaders of gulf Arab nations.

Since taking office, al-Sharaa has visited Arab and regional countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey. Earlier this week, he made his first trip to Europe where he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and announced that his country is having indirect talks with Israel.

After Assad’s fall, Syria and its neighbors have been calling for the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed on Assad during the early months of the country’s conflict that broke out in March 2011.

The lifting of sanctions would open the way for oil-rich Arab nations to take part in funding Syria’s reconstruction from the destruction caused by the conflict that has killed nearly half a million people.

The United Nations in 2017 estimated that it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria. Some experts now say that number could reach at least $400 billion.

In April, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said they will pay Syria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank, a move likely to make the international institution resume its support to the war-torn country.

Since the fall of Assad, a close ally of Iran, Syria’s new leadership has been improving the country’s relations with Arab and western countries.

This photo released by the official Syrian news agency SANA, shows Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, right, meets with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, at the Sakhir Royal Palace in Manama, Bahrain, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s motorcade took a different route than usual to the airport as he was departing Florida on Sunday due to a “suspicious object,” according to the White House.

The object, which the White House did not describe, was discovered during security sweeps in advance of Trump’s arrival at Palm Beach International Airport.

“A further investigation was warranted and the presidential motorcade route was adjusted accordingly,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Sunday.

The president, when asked about the package by reporters, said, “I know nothing about it.”

Trump left his Palm Beach, Florida, club, Mar-a-Lago, around 6:20 p.m. for the roughly 10-minute drive to the airport, but took a circular route around the city to get there.

During the drive, police officers on motorcycles created a moving blockade for the motorcade, at one point almost colliding with the vans that accompanied Trump.

Air Force One was parked on the opposite side of the airport from where it is usually located and the lights outside the plane were turned off.

Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for U.S. Secret Service, said the secondary route was taken just as a precaution and that “that is standard protocol.”

President Donald Trump departs Trump International Golf Club in the presidential limousine, known as The Beast, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)