WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hosted Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, a visit that capped a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled a longtime autocratic leader and has since sought to end Syria’s decades of international isolation.
Trump met with Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. leader announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the U.S. said the former al Qaeda commander was no longer a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
Al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled former Syrian President Bashar Assad last December and was named the country’s interim leader in January.
Trump and al-Sharaa — who once had ties to al-Qaida and had a USD 10 million US bounty on his head — first met in May in Saudi Arabia. At the time, the US president described al-Sharaa as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past, very strong past. Fighter.” It was the first official encounter between the US and Syria since 2000, when former President Bill Clinton met with Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar Assad.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday’s visit is “part of the president’s efforts in diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace.”
Trump has recently said al-Sharaa is “doing a very good job so far” and that a “lot of progress has been made with Syria” since the US eased sanctions.
One official with knowledge of the administration’s plans said Syria’s entry into the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group will allow it to work more closely with US forces, although the new Syrian military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the country’s northeast had already been fighting the group.
Before al-Sharaa’s arrival in the US, the United Nations Security Council voted to lift sanctions on the Syrian president and other government officials in a move that Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said was a strong sign that Syria is in a new era since the fall of Assad.
Al-Sharaa comes into the meeting with his own priorities. He wants a permanent repeal of sanctions that punished Syria for widespread allegations of human rights abuses by Assad’s government and security forces. While the Caesar Act sanctions are currently waived by Trump, a permanent repeal would require Congress to act.
One option is a proposal from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that would end the sanctions without any conditions. The other was drafted by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a hawkish Trump ally who wants to set conditions for a sanctions repeal that would be reviewed every six months.