Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's White House meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday caps a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024 and has since toured the world as he seeks to end Syria's international isolation.
Trump met with Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, six months after the pair first met in Saudi Arabia and just days after Washington said that the Syrian leader, who once led an Al-Qaeda affiliate group, was no longer a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."
Washington suspended the imposition of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria in part for 180 days, the Treasury Department said as the meeting took place.
The move replaces a previous waiver enacted on 23 May, it said
On Friday, the US lifted sanctions on Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, a day after the UN Security Council took the same step.
Sharaa, 42, took power last year after his fighters launched a lightning offensive from their Idlib and overthrew longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad just days later on December 8.
Syria's regional realignment has since moved at a dizzying pace, away from Assad's key allies Iran and Russia and toward Turkey, the Gulf - and Washington.
Syria's presidency said on X that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, "the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest."
Syria is also set to join a US-led coalition to fight Islamic State, which could be formally announced at Monday's White House meeting.
Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate Islamic State plots to assassinate Sharaa that had been foiled over the last few months, according to a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official.
The sources said the plots underlined the direct threat Sharaa faces as he tries to consolidate power in a country ruined by 14 years of civil war.
Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting Islamic State cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects, government media said.
Last sanctions hurdle
Days before the meeting, Trump told reporters at the White House that "a lot of progress has been made" on Syria.
"I think he's (Sharaa's) doing a very good job. It's a tough neighbourhood, and he's a tough guy, but I got along with him very well," Trump said.
After Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May, Trump announced he would lift all sanctions on Syria.
But the toughest measures, known as the Caesar Sanctions Act, require a repeal from Congress. The White House and State Department have publicly backed lifting them before 2025 ends, but experts say the government shutdown may affect that time frame.
The Caesar Act, enacted in 2019, has blocked any international financing for Syria. While some lawmakers from both parties still oppose repealing it, a growing number of senators and representatives - including some of the law’s original authors - now believe it has served its purpose and is currently hindering reconstruction efforts in Syria, where an estimated 90% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat spearheading repeal efforts, told The Hill newspaper: “The Caesar sanctions must be lifted to give the Syrian people a real chance to recover after decades of dictatorship.”
The US president has the authority to waive Caesar Act sanctions for no more than six months at a time, hence the push for full repeal, amid Washington’s desire to allow American and allied companies to invest in Syria.
Sharaa is also expected to strongly advocate for a repeal, which will help spur global investment in a country ravaged by 14 years of war and which the World Bank estimates will take more than $200 billion to rebuild.
On Monday, he met with Congressman Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and an advocate of maintaining the sanctions, in an attempt to win him over.
Tareq Kteleh, president of the Syrian American Council for Peace and Prosperity, wrote on Facebook that Mast showed “greater enthusiasm toward lifting sanctions on Syria after the meeting - a significant step toward the full repeal of the Caesar sanctions, and a move that builds understanding and strengthens dialogue between the two countries.”
Mast also reportedly praised Al-Sharaa’s remarks, saying, “It’s time to make peace and give Syria a real chance.”
Al-Sharaa also met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss possible assistance to Syria after years of war, as well as with representatives of Syrian organizations.
Al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington follows his appearance at the United Nations in New York in September, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly.
The New Arab Staff and Reuters