US President Donald Trump welcomed Syrian President Ahmed al-Shalah to the White House on Monday in an unprecedented visit to Washington by a Syrian president.
The two met in Saudi Arabia six months ago. Sharaa cautiously arrived at the White House. He entered the west wing not through the main entrance, but through a side entrance away from the camera.
The 43-year-old Syrian president took power in 2024 after Islamic extremist fighters launched a blitzkrieg attack from an enclave in northwestern Syria that overthrew then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad just days later on December 8.
Since then, Syria’s regional reorganization has moved at a dizzying pace, moving away from Assad’s main allies Iran and Russia and toward Turkey, Gulf states, and Washington.
Security was expected to be a major focus of Sharer’s meeting with Trump, but Trump is making a major shift in U.S. policy to support Syria’s fragile regime transition. The United States is brokering talks on a possible security agreement between Syria and Israel, but Israel remains cautious due to its past relationship with Shara’a, a former member of the al-Qaeda group.
Days before the meeting, the US president had declared to reporters that “a lot of progress has been made” in relations with Syria.
“I think he (Sharaa) is doing a great job. It’s a tough area and he’s a tough guy, but I got along very well with him,” Trump said.
After Mr. Shaler and Mr. Trump met in Riyadh in May, Mr. Trump announced that he would lift all sanctions on Syria. However, the most severe measure, known as the Caesar Sanctions Act, requires repeal by Congress.
The White House and State Department have publicly expressed support for repeal by the end of 2025, but experts say the government shutdown could impact that timeline.
Schaller is expected to be a strong advocate of repeal, which would help boost global investment in the country, which has been devastated by 14 years of war and will cost more than $200 billion to rebuild, according to the World Bank.
Several prominent members of Congress are calling for an end to the 2019 Caesar Act sanctions passed in response to human rights abuses under the Assad regime. Some Republican lawmakers allied with President Trump want sanctions to remain in place, but that could change if the U.S. president pushes through.
In 2013, the United States designated Sharaa, then known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, as a terrorist because of his ties to al-Qaeda. He broke away from the group in 2016 and strengthened his influence in northwest Syria.
In December, the United States withdrew a $10 million reward for his capture, and last week the United Nations Security Council lifted terrorism-related sanctions on him and Interior Minister Anas Khattab.
Following the United Nations decision, the United Kingdom and the United States also lifted sanctions against both countries, including revoking their designation as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
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