Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet President Trump on the White Home on Monday, persevering with a shocking reversal of fortunes for a person branded till three days in the past as a global terrorist by the U.S. authorities with a $10 million bounty on his head.
The previous chief of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria disavowed Islamic extremism after rising to steer his war-torn nation. Practically a yr in the past, he led his insurgent militia to power long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad out of workplace and into exile in Russia.
Syria was crippled for many years underneath sanctions imposed by the U.S. and different nations in opposition to Assad, and Monday’s assembly on the White Home may see the nation are available in even additional out of the geopolitical chilly, as Al-Sharaa seeks to normalize relations.
The White Home hopes Syria will formally be part of the battle in opposition to ISIS, which Al-Sharaa’s personal former militia, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, opposed throughout the latter years of Syria’s 14-year civil warfare, when he glided by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
He might signal a proper settlement with President Trump throughout their in individual assembly on Monday — which will probably be their third up to now — to cooperate on counterterrorism. If it occurs, it could be a extremely symbolic second, indicating a 180-degree turnaround in how Syria is seen by the U.S. authorities.
Beneath Assad about 12 years in the past, ISIS was allowed to develop and metastasize into one of the crucial highly effective terrorist organizations on this planet. At one level, it managed an enormous swath of land spanning the Syria-Iraq border.
After assembly Al-Sharaa for the primary time in Saudi Arabia in Might, Mr. Trump known as the Syrian chief a “young, attractive guy, tough guy, strong past.”
A photograph launched on Might 14, 2025, by the state-run Saudi Press Company reveals, from left, President Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, throughout a gathering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Press Company/Handout/REUTERS
Over the weekend, he additionally grew to become the primary Syrian chief to shoot some hoops with the U.S. navy. Video shared Saturday by the Syrian overseas ministry reveals him nailing a three-pointer as he performs with a U.S. admiral and a brigadier basic at an undisclosed location within the U.S.
However till Friday morning, the Syrian president was nonetheless formally designated a terrorist by the U.S. authorities, as he had been since 2013. That designation was lifted by the top of the day.
There may be dialogue on the White Home on Monday in regards to the official lifting of U.S. financial sanctions in opposition to Syria, which Mr. Trump put in movement in Might with an government order.
That order eliminated sanctions on Syria, “while maintaining sanctions on the former president, Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in June.
Al-Sharaa’s transitional authorities has pushed the Trump administration for sanctions aid for months, and work had been underway to ease some sanctions even earlier than the president’s Might announcement, however different measures nonetheless must be formally revoked by Congress.
In an obvious bid to point out its willpower to crack down on ISIS and different extremists, the Syrian authorities introduced that greater than 70 alleged members of the group had been detained simply hours earlier than al-Sharaa landed in Washington.
In September, addressing the U.N. Normal Meeting in New York — one other landmark second because it had been almost six a long time since a Syrian chief had performed so — Al-Sharaa instructed the gathered leaders that his nation was “reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world.”
He harassed that it could require the worldwide neighborhood’s assist.
“The world watched this tragedy unfold for 14 years and couldn’t do anything to stop this massive crime,” he stated of the Syrian civil warfare. “So, the world today should provide support to Syria.”
On Monday, he’s prone to ask the chief of the world’s wealthiest nation to assist nevertheless he can.
