WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa at the White House on Monday, a visit that capped a stunning year for the fighter-turned-ruler who toppled a long-time leader and has since sought to end Syria’s decades of international isolation.

The US president met Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian head of state to Washington, six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where Trump announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after Washington said the former Al Qaeda figure was no longer a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.

Sharaa arrived at the White House without the fanfare often given to visiting foreign leaders. He entered through a side entrance unseen by reporters instead of through the West Wing’s main door where cameras are positioned. Sharaa, 43, took power last year after his fellow fighters launched a lightning offensive from their enclave in Syria’s northwest and overthrew Bashar al Assad just days later on Dec 8.

Syria’s regional realignment has since moved at a dizzying pace, away from Assad’s key allies Iran and Russia, and toward Turkiye, the Gulf and Washington.

Security was expected to be a top focus of Sharaa’s meeting with Trump, who in a major policy shift has sought to help Syria’s fragile transition.

The US is brokering talks on a possible security pact between Syria and Israel, which remains wary of Sharaa’s past. Unconfirmed reports said last week that Washington is planning to establish a military presence at a Damascus airbase.

Syria is also set to join a US-led coalition to fight the militant Islamic State (IS) group, which could be formally announced as soon as this week.

Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate IS plots to assassinate Sharaa that had been foiled over the last few months, according to a Syrian security 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 IS cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects.

Last hurdle

Days before the meeting, Trump told reporters that “a lot of progress has been made” on Syria.

“I think he’s (Sharaa) 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 the year ends, but experts say the government shutdown may affect that timeframe.

Sharaa is 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.

Several influential members of Congress have called for the lifting of the 2019 Caesar sanctions, passed in response to human rights abuses under Assad. A few of Trump’s fellow Republicans want the sanctions to stay in place, but that could change if Trump applies pressure.

Syria’s social fabric has been more recently tested. New bouts of sectarian violence left more than 2,500 dead since Assad’s fall, deepening civil war wounds and putting into question the new rulers’ ability to govern for all Syrians.

Trump’s focus on Syria comes as his administration seeks to keep intact a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and push forward on his 20-point plan for an end to the two-year-old conflict. Some of the toughest issues remain unresolved.

Sharaa’s own turnaround is no less impressive than his country’s. He joined Al Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 invasion and spent years in a US prison there, before returning to Syria to join the resistance against Assad.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2025