Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet President Trump on the White Home on Monday, persevering with a surprising reversal of fortunes for a person branded till three days in the past as a world terrorist by the U.S. authorities with a $10 million bounty on his head.
The previous chief of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria disavowed Islamic extremism after rising to guide his war-torn nation. Almost a 12 months in the past, he led his insurgent militia to pressure long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad out of workplace and into exile in Russia.
Syria was crippled for many years below sanctions imposed by the U.S. and different nations in opposition to Assad, and Monday’s assembly on the White Home might see the nation are available in even additional out of the geopolitical chilly, as Al-Sharaa seeks to normalize relations.
The White Home hopes Syria will formally be a part of the combat in opposition to ISIS, which Al-Sharaa’s personal former militia, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, opposed throughout the latter years of Syria’s 14-year civil battle, when he glided by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
He might signal a proper settlement with President Trump throughout their in particular person assembly on Monday — which might be their third thus far — to cooperate on counterterrorism. If it occurs, it will be a extremely symbolic second, indicating a 180-degree turnaround in how Syria is seen by the U.S. authorities.
Below Assad about 12 years in the past, ISIS was allowed to develop and metastasize into probably the most highly effective terrorist organizations on the earth. At one level, it managed an enormous swath of land spanning the Syria-Iraq border.
After assembly Al-Sharaa for the primary time in Saudi Arabia in Could, Mr. Trump known as the Syrian chief a “younger, engaging man, powerful man, sturdy previous.”
Saudi Press Company/Handout/REUTERS
Over the weekend, he additionally grew to become the primary Syrian chief to shoot some hoops with the U.S. army. Video shared Saturday by the Syrian international ministry reveals him nailing a three-pointer as he performs with a U.S. admiral and a brigadier common at an undisclosed location within the U.S.
However till Friday morning, the Syrian president was nonetheless formally designated a terrorist by the U.S. authorities, as he had been since 2013. That designation was lifted by the top of the day.
There may additionally be dialogue on the White Home on Monday in regards to the official lifting of U.S. financial sanctions in opposition to Syria, which Mr. Trump put in movement in Could with an government order.
That order eliminated sanctions on Syria, “whereas sustaining sanctions on the previous president, Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, individuals linked to chemical weapons actions, ISIS and their associates, and Iranian proxies,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in June.
Al-Sharaa’s transitional authorities has pushed the Trump administration for sanctions reduction for months, and work had been underway to ease some sanctions even earlier than the president’s Could announcement, however different measures nonetheless have to be formally revoked by Congress.
In an obvious bid to indicate its dedication to crack down on ISIS and different extremists, the Syrian authorities introduced that greater than 70 alleged members of the group had been detained simply hours earlier than al-Sharaa landed in Washington.
In September, addressing the U.N. Normal Meeting in New York — one other landmark second because it had been practically six a long time since a Syrian chief had performed so — Al-Sharaa informed the gathered leaders that his nation was “reclaiming its rightful place among the many nations of the world.”
However to reclaim its place, it additionally must rebuild — a herculean activity that Al-Sharaa just lately informed CBS Information’ Margaret Brennan in an interview for 60 Minutes will doubtless value $600-$900 billion.
He pressured that it will require the worldwide neighborhood’s assist.
“The world watched this tragedy unfold for 14 years and could not do something to cease this huge crime,” he mentioned of the Syrian civil battle. “So, the world immediately ought to present assist to Syria.”
On Monday, he is prone to ask the chief of the world’s wealthiest nation to assist nonetheless he can.
