US President Donald Trump held discreet talks at the White House this Monday (10) with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who until recently was on Washington’s terrorist list and is now trying to end Syria’s decades of international isolation.
Sharaa’s visit capped an impressive year for the rebel-turned-ruler, toppling longtime autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad and since then
One of Sharaa’s main goals in Washington was to push for the complete removal of the most severe US sanctions.
While he met with Trump behind closed doors, the US Treasury Department announced a 180-day extension of the suspension of the application of the so-called Caesar sanctions, but only the US Congress can revoke them completely.
Trump met with Sharaa, six months after the two first met in Saudi Arabia, where the American leader announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the US declared that he was no longer a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.
In an unusually low-key reception, Sharaa arrived without the pomp normally reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries.
He entered through a side door, where reporters only caught a glimpse of his presence, rather than through the main door of the West Wing, where cameras usually record Trump greeting officials. A group of reporters who frequently enter the Oval Office for such meetings were not allowed inside.
Shortly thereafter, the Treasury Department announced a new order to replace the exemption granted on May 23 to the application of the 2019 Caesar Act, which imposed sweeping sanctions due to human rights violations under the Assad regime.
The move, which essentially extends the exemption for another 180 days, indicates “our commitment to continued sanctions relief for Syria,” Treasury said in a statement.
Sharaa, 43, took power last year after his Islamist fighters launched a lightning offensive from their enclave in northwestern Syria and toppled long-ruling Syrian President Assad just days later on December 8.
Since then, Syria’s regional realignment has proceeded at a dizzying pace, moving away from Assad’s main allies, Iran and Russia, and toward Turkey, the Persian Gulf and Washington.
The Caesar Act sanctions remain a major obstacle to the country’s reconstruction. A senior administration official stated that the administration would fully support Congress’s repeal of these sanctions.
Security was also expected to be a key focus of Sharaa’s meeting with Trump, who, in a major shift in US foreign policy, sought to help Syria’s fragile transition.
The United States is mediating talks on a possible security pact between Syria and Israel, which remains wary of Sharaa’s former militant ties.
Reuters reported last week that the US plans to establish a military presence at a Damascus air base.
Syria was also on the verge of formally joining a U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State, the administration official said, and an announcement from the Syrian government was expected soon.
Assassination plans
Just hours before the historic talks, news emerged of two separate Islamic State plans to assassinate Sharaa that have been thwarted in recent months, according to a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle East official.
Over the weekend, the Syrian Interior Ministry launched an arrest of more than 70 suspects, according to government media.
The White House offered no immediate explanation for Sharaa’s discreet arrival. Most heads of state arrive by car through the entrance adorned with their national flags, on the north side of the presidential complex. But this Monday, none of that happened.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a self-proclaimed “Islamophobe” and influential in Trump’s MAGA movement, published on X that Sharaa was the “president of ISIS in Syria.”
“What the hell are we doing?” she wrote of his visit to the White House.
But as he left the compound, Sharaa left his entourage right in front of the White House and briefly greeted a crowd of cheering supporters, some waving Syrian flags.
Days before the meeting, Trump told reporters that “a lot of progress has been made” on Syria and that Sharaa was “doing a great job.”
Sharaa was expected to strongly advocate the repeal of the Caesar Act, which would help boost global investment in a country devastated by 14 years of war and whose reconstruction, according to World Bank estimates, will cost more than $200 billion.
Several influential members of Congress have called for the lifting of the 2019 Caesar sanctions, passed in response to human rights violations committed during Assad’s rule. Some Republicans, Trump supporters, want the sanctions to remain in place, but that could change if Trump exerts pressure.
Syria’s social fabric has been put to the test more recently. New outbreaks of sectarian violence have left more than 2,500 dead since Assad’s fall, deepening the wounds of the civil war and calling into question the new rulers’ ability to govern for all Syrians.
Trump’s focus on Syria comes as his administration seeks to keep intact the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas militants and move forward with its 20-point plan to end the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave. Some of the most complex issues remain unresolved.
Dramatic changes
Sharaa’s own turnaround is no less impressive than her country’s. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and spent years in an American prison in that country before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Assad.
In 2013, the US designated Sharaa, then known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, as a terrorist due to his ties to al-Qaeda. He broke away from the group in 2016 and consolidated his influence in northwestern Syria.
The United States lifted the $10 million bounty on Sharaa’s head in December, and last week the United Nations Security Council lifted terrorism-related sanctions against him and his interior minister, Anas Khattab.
Following the UN decision, the UK and US lifted sanctions against both. In Washington, this included removing the designation of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
