- Syrian president Ahmad Sharaa makes history, becoming the first-ever Syrian president to visit the White House.
- Military cooperation, sanctions relief, and Israel-Syria border disputes were discussed.
In a historic moment in both Syrian and US politics, Syrian president Ahmad Sharaa becomes the first-ever Syrian president to set foot into the White House after massive diplomatic progress on the international stage between Syria and the Trump administration.
In what was an unusually muted welcome, Sharaa, who once had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, arrived without the usual diplomatic welcome given to foreign dignitaries. He entered through a side door where reporters only got a glimpse of him instead of through the West Wing main door of the White House, where cameras often capture Trump greeting VIPs.
The meeting was so confidential that there was no press briefing whereby reporters would have been able to ask the two leaders questions nor any official announcement of when the meeting was over.
Relief of sanctions
One of Sharaa’s ambitions for the meeting was a repeal of the Caesar Act, US legislation responsible for crippling sanctions on Syria. Previously the sanctions were suspended after Trump’s meeting with Sharaa in Riyadh in May, and due to the meeting on Tuesday, the US Treasury announced the sanctions suspension has been extended by another 180 days.
The US Treasury said in a statement: “Removing US sanctions will support Syria’s efforts to rebuild its economy, provide prosperity for all its citizens, including its ethnic and religious minorities, and combat terrorism.”
The U.S. State Department publicly supports repealing the Caesar Act sanctions completely, but the bill must be voted on in Congress, where there are high-profile figures on both sides of the political spectrum that are against the bill or want major amendments.
Joining the international coalition to fight ISIS
Syria has joined the US-led international coalition to combat ISIS, according to Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa, who confirmed on X that Syria has signed a ‘political cooperation declaration’ with the international coalition.
He said: “The agreement is political and until now contains no military components.”
Outlining Syria’s reluctance in announcing any new US troops on the ground in Damascus, something western sources had claimed would happen days prior to the meeting.
The agreement makes Syria the 90th country to join the coalition, which aims to prevent foreign fighters from joining ISIL’s ranks while eliminating the remnants of the group from across the Middle East.
The announcement comes after Syrian security forces were reported to have carried out 61 raids across the country, with 71 people arrested along with explosives and weapons seized prior to the Sharaa-Trump meeting, and only on Monday, the Reuters news agency quoted unnamed officials as saying that Syria had foiled two ISIL plots to assassinate al-Sharaa.
Abraham Accords?
Syria has faced more than 1,000 strikes by the Israeli military, including having to endure two bombings of its presidential palace. Israel also occupies Syrian land and appears to be fomenting sectarianism, particularly within the Druze community.
Syria got into a war with Israel 50 years ago, and then, in 1974, there was a disengagement agreement.
When the Assad regime fell, Israel broke the agreement and expanded hundreds of miles into Syria while expelling US peacekeepers.
In a damning interview with the Washington Post, Sharaa had said that Israel should withdraw to the pre-December 8 borders and stayed short of announcing any prospect of normalisation.
He said: “The United States is with us in these negotiations, and so many international parties support our perspective in this regard. Today, we found that Mr Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”
Sharaa also talked about Israeli demands to demilitarise the region south of Damascus. He implied that if Southern Syria becomes demilitarised, Israel may then “occupy the centre of Syria in order to protect the south of Syria.”
Sharaa’s relationship with Russia
The United States Treasury announced on Tuesday, the day Sharaa visited the White House, that the Caesar Act sanctions would not be imposed in the 180-day suspension period announced except for the transactions involving Russia and Iran.
In Sharaa’s interview with The Washington Post, Sharaa acknowledged that Russia has been at war with them for 10 years and admitted to the Russian attempts to assassinate him several times.
However, he also acknowledged the importance of relations with Russia due to its membership as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
He said: “We don’t want to push Russia to take alternative or other options in dealing with Syria.” He did, however, admit that he is trying to call Bashar Al Assad to justice.
