Ahmed al-Sharaa, the President of Syria, will be meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House in Monday. This comes within a year of this rebel-turned-ruler disposing of a longtime autocratic rule in the country. al-Sharaa has been going across the world to end the isolation that Syria had faced during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
This will be the first-ever visit of a Syrian president to the White House. al-Sharaa had first met with Trump in Saudi Arabia. The meeting took place days after the United States announced that al-Sharaa, who was a former member of the al-Qaeda, was not a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” anymore.
The 42-year-old al-Sharaa came to power in 2024 after his army of Islamic rebels launched an offensive from the northwestern region of Syria and toppled the al-Assad regiime within a few days, on 8 December, 2024.
Since coming under the new government, Syria, which was earlier close to countries like Iran and Russia, close allies of al-Assad, is now trying to develop strong relationships with the Gulf countries, Turkey, and the United States.
The main focus of the meeting on Monday will be security.
As per a Reuters report, the United States is planning to have a military base in Damascus. Washington is also trying to broker a security deal between Israel and Syria.
This will also be the first meeting between the heads of governments of the US and Syria since 2000, when Bill Clinton met Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar al-Assad.
Sanctions on Syria
US President Donald Trump had announced after the meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh that he would be lifting all sanctions on Syria. He had then praised the Syrian president by saying, “I think he’s (Sharaa’s) doing a very good job. It’s a tough neighborhood, and he’s a tough guy, but I got along with him very well,”
However, one concern remains in the forms of the Caesar Sanctions Act, which although both the White House and the State department want to lift, needs the approval of the US Congress, which might be difficult considering the ongoing government shutdown in the USA.
If this sanction is repealed, there can be investments in Syria, which has been ravaged by a 14-year war.
Change in perception
al-Sharaa himself has seen a dramatic change in how the West has been perceiving him. At first, he was a terrorist associated with the al-Qaeda, which it joined during the US-led invasion in Iraq.
He was designated as a terrorist by the US in 2013 and a $10 million bounty was placed on his head. This bounty was removed in December 2024 along with terror-related sanctions and designations being removed last week.
“Sharaa’s visit to Washington is emblematic of the dramatic shift underway, where Syria went from being an Iranian satrapy to joining the American-led camp, and Sharaa himself transformed from a wanted terrorist to a partner in the war on terror,” said Firas Maksad, managing director for Middle East and North Africa at the New York-based Eurasia Group, to Reuters.
“Much can still go wrong in this nascent experiment, and there remain grave concerns about minority and individual rights,” Maksad said, adding, “but the first ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington is a moment of hope that Syria is on the right track.”
