- First US presidential visit to Syria since 1946.
- Meeting between Trump and Sharaa at the White House scheduled for Monday.
- The United States hopes that Syria will join the coalition against Daesh.
WASHINGTON: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for a historic official visit, his country’s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist.
Sharaa, whose rebel forces overthrew ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.
According to analysts, it is the first visit of its kind by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946.
The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May.
US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the US-led international alliance against Daesh.
The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus “to coordinate humanitarian aid and monitor developments between Syria and Israel,” a diplomatic source in Syria said. AFP.
The State Department’s decision on Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa’s government had been meeting U.S. demands, including working to find missing Americans and eliminating any remaining chemical weapons.
“These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership following the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said.
The spokesperson added that delisting the United States would promote “regional security and stability, as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”
Transformation
Sharaa’s trip to Washington comes after his historic visit to the United Nations in September – his first time on American soil – where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
On Thursday, Washington led a vote in the Security Council to remove UN sanctions against it.
Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, was removed from the list of terrorist groups by Washington in July.
Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break with their violent past and present a more tolerable moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.
The White House visit “is further testimony to America’s commitment to the new Syria and a hugely symbolic moment for the country’s new leader, marking another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,” said International Crisis Group’s US program director Michael Hanna.
Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces major challenges in its reconstruction after 13 years of brutal civil war.
In October, the World Bank put a “conservative best estimate” of the cost of Syria’s reconstruction at $216 billion.
