Syrian president arrives in US to meet with Trump

syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa It arrived in the US on Saturday ahead of its historic meeting with President Trumphis country’s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist.

Al-Sharaa, whose rebel forces Overthrown ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet with Trump at the White House on Monday.

According to analysts, it is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946. Al-Sharaa addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in September.

The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during Trump’s Middle East tour in May.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that al-Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the US-led international alliance against the Islamic State.

The State Department’s decision Friday to remove al-Sharaa from the global terrorist list was widely expected.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that al-Sharaa’s government had been meeting U.S. demands, including working to find missing Americans and eliminating any remaining chemical weapons.

“These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership following the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said.

The spokesperson added that delisting the United States would promote “regional security and stability, as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”

Al-Sharaa joined Al Qaeda about 20 years ago and was arrested in Iraq in 2005. He spent six years in US and Iraqi prisons before his release in 2011. He then ran an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria and was designated a terrorist by the US in 2013. In 2016, he renounced his allegiance to Al Qaeda.

In November 2024, al-Sharaa led opposition forces in a stunning offensive that toppled the Assad regime.

in an interview On “60 Minutes” last month in Syria, al-Sharaa said that “there are entire generations” of Syrians “who have suffered tremendous psychological trauma” under the Assad regime.