Trump holds first-ever White House meeting with Syrian leader
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Trump and al-Sharaa meet at the White House. Photo: Syrian Presidency
President Trump is meeting on Monday at the White House with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the White House said.
Why it matters: This is the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House and another key step in rebuilding U.S.-Syrian relations. It's particularly unusual given al-Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda commander who was until recently on the U.S. terrorism blacklist.
Driving the news: Al-Sharaa arrived in Washington on Saturday and held meeting with the members of the Syrian-American community and with members of Congress.
- The key issue in his meeting with Trump is the signing of an agreement for Syria to join the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.
- Syria's embassy in Washington will also be reopening after more than a decade, which a senior U.S. official said would "further counterterrorism, security, and economic coordination."
What they're saying: Trump said after the meeting that al-Sharaa is a "tough" leader whom he "likes" and gets along with.
- Trump added that the U.S. will do everything it can to help Syria succeed.
- The Syrian presidency said in a statement that al-Sharaa and Trump discussed bilateral relations and "ways to strengthen and develop them, in addition to a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest."
Behind the scenes: Syrian minister of information Hamza al-Mustafa wrote on X that the meeting lasted more than an hour and was "warm, candid, and forward-looking."
- Mustafa said Trump and al-Sharaa discussed expanding economic cooperation, attracting American investments to Syria, and plans to lift the sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act.
- "President Trump affirmed his commitment, stating: 'We have to get this done — we have to help Syria,'" Musafa wrote.
- He added that Trump and al-Sharaa discussed the integration of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian Army.
The intrigue: Syria signed a political cooperation declaration with the International Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
- Mustafa stressed it was a political agreement and didn't contain military components for now.
- The U.S. official said Syria had joined the international effort to "eliminate ISIS remnants and halt foreign fighter flows."
State of play: Ahead of al-Sharaa's visit to Washington, the UN Security Council voted to remove him and his interior minister from the UN terrorism blacklist.
- After the vote, the Trump administration followed up by delisting al-Sharaa as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
- On Monday, that Treasury Department announced that Caesar Act sanctions would be suspended for another six months, except for certain transactions involving Russia and Iran.
- Al-Sharaa's government has appealed to Congress for a full repeal of the harsh sanctions, which were imposed on the Assad regime in 2019.
Between the lines: The White House kept al-Sharaa's visit low-profile and didn't open the Oval Office to the press as with visits from most other world leaders.
- Al-Sharaa entered the White House without Trump welcoming him at the entrance and without taking a joint photo.
The big picture: One of the issues discussed in the meeting was a potental new security agreement between Syria and Israel.
- The U.S. goal is to reach a security agreement on the border between the two countries by the end of the year, U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack told Axios two weeks ago.
- Trump said after his meeting with al-Sharaa that he is working with Israel on "getting along" with Syria.
- "President Trump expressed his support for a potential security arrangement with Israel, aimed at enhancing national and regional stability," the Syrian minister of information wrote on X.
This story was updated throughout.
