(AFP) – Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa met President Donald Trump at the White House for unprecedented talks on Monday, capping a dramatic turnaround for a former jihadist who once had a $10 million US bounty on his head. In remarkable scenes just days after he was removed from Washington’s terrorism list, Sharaa climbed out of his motorcade to greet crowds of supporters outside the US presidential mansion.
Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country’s 1946 independence. The 43-year-old’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda but was itself removed from Washington’s terrorism list in July.
Syria’s presidency said on X that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, “the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest.” Unusually for the normally camera-friendly Trump, the meeting with the Syrian leader took place behind closed doors without the media present. However, Syria’s presidency published photos of Trump standing and shaking hands with a smiling Sharaa beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Other pictures showed the Syrian leader sitting opposite Trump with top US officials including Vice President JD Vance, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, and top US military officer Dan Caine. There was no immediate reaction from the White House.
Trump said last week that Sharaa was doing a “very good job. It’s a tough neighborhood. And he’s a tough guy.”
Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers. Sharaa’s White House visit is “a hugely symbolic moment for the country’s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,” said Michael Hanna, US program director at the International Crisis Group. The Syrian met Trump for the first time in Saudi Arabia during the US leader’s regional tour in May. At that time, the 79-year-old Trump dubbed Sharaa, 43, a “young, attractive guy.”
The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said earlier this month that Sharaa may on Monday sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS) group. The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus “to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel,” a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP. Washington has also been pushing for some kind of pact to end decades of enmity between Syria and Israel, part of Trump’s wider goal to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire with a broader Middle East peace settlement.
For his part, Sharaa is expected to seek US funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of devastating civil war. After his arrival in Washington, Sharaa over the weekend met with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva over possible aid. Sharaa’s jihadist past has caused controversy in some quarters, but the State Department’s decision Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected. The Syrian president has also been making diplomatic outreach towards Washington’s rivals, having met Russian President Vladimir Putin in October in their first meeting since the removal of Assad, a key Kremlin ally.
– Danny KEMP
© 2024 AFP
