WASHINGTON:&nbsp;Syria is joining the global coalition against the Islamic State group, a US official said Monday hours after President Donald Trump welcomed his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, for historic White House talks. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country&#39;s independence in 1946. But the 43-year-old&#39;s landmark visit to the Oval Office came just days after Washington removed him from its terrorism list. Sharaa&#39;s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda. &quot;During the visit, Syria announced that it is joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS,&quot; becoming the 90th member of the alliance and &quot;partnering with the United States to eliminate ISIS remnants and halt foreign fighter flows,&quot; a senior administration official said. According to the official, Syria will also be allowed to resume diplomatic relations with Washington &quot;to further counterterrorism, security, and economic coordination.&quot; Trump said he wanted Syria to become &quot;very successful&quot; after more than a decade of civil war and added that he believed Sharaa &quot;can do it, I really do.&quot; &quot;He&#39;s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he&#39;s a tough guy,&quot; Trump told reporters after the meeting, which was closed to the press. &quot;People said he&#39;s had a rough past, we&#39;ve all had rough pasts... And I think, frankly, if you didn&#39;t have a rough past, you wouldn&#39;t have a chance.&quot; Trump said Syria was a &quot;big part&quot; of his plan for a wider Middle East peace plan, which the US president is hoping will prop up the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. &quot;Having a stable and successful Syria is very important to all countries in the Region,&quot; Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after the meeting. Despite this, Trump would not confirm reports that Syria would sign any non-aggression pact with long-term foe Israel. Afterwards, Sharaa was interviewed by broadcaster Fox News, saying Syria&#39;s ongoing dispute with Israel over the Golan Heights territory would make entering peace talks difficult now. But he suggested talks facilitated by Trump and Washington could help start negotiations. The Syrian president&#39;s visit capped a remarkable turnaround for a former fighter who once had a $10 million US bounty on his head. In dramatic scenes as he left his meeting with Trump, he climbed out of his motorcade to greet crowds of supporters outside the White House, surrounded on all sides by bodyguards. &#39;Astonishing transformation&#39;&nbsp;Syria&#39;s presidency said on X that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, &quot;the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest.&quot; It 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. Since taking power, Syria&#39;s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers. Sharaa&#39;s White House visit is &quot;a hugely symbolic moment for the country&#39;s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,&quot; 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&#39;s regional tour in May. At the time the 79-year-old Trump dubbed Sharaa, 43, as &quot;a young, attractive guy.&quot; Sharaa was 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 International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva over possible aid. Sharaa&#39;s past has caused controversy in some quarters, but the State Department&#39;s decision on Friday to remove him from the blacklist was widely expected. The Syrian president has also been making diplomatic outreach towards Washington&#39;s rivals. He met Russian President Vladimir Putin in October in their first meeting since the removal of Assad, a key Kremlin ally.

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Official says Syria will also be allowed to resume diplomatic relations with Washington "to further counterterrorism, security, and economic coordination." Trump wants Syria to become "very successful" after more than a decade of civil war, adding he believed Sharaa "can do it, I really do."



Syria joins alliance against Islamic State after White House talks

WASHINGTON: Syria&#39;s President Ahmed al-Sharaa is to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday for unprecedented talks just days after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will be the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country&#39;s independence in 1946. Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa&#39;s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was itself only delisted as a terrorist group by Washington in July. Since taking power, Syria&#39;s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers. Sharaa&#39;s White House visit is &quot;a hugely symbolic moment for the country&#39;s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,&quot; said Michael Hanna, US program director at the International Crisis Group. The interim president met Trump for the first time in Saudi Arabia during the US leader&#39;s regional tour in May. After his arrival in Washington, Sharaa over the weekend met with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva over possible aid for the war-wrecked country, and with representatives from Syrian organizations. Washington&#39;s 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 &quot;to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel,&quot; a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP. The State Department&#39;s decision Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa&#39;s government had been meeting US demands on working to find missing Americans and on eliminating any remaining chemical weapons. &quot;These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,&quot; Pigott said. On Saturday, the Syrian interior ministry announced that it had carried out 61 raids and made 71 arrests in a &quot;proactive campaign to neutralize the threat&quot; of IS, according to the official SANA news agency. It said the raids targeted locations where IS sleeper cells remain, including Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and Damascus. Sharaa&#39;s Washington trip comes after he visited the United Nations in September &mdash; his first time on US soil &mdash; where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York. Last week Washington led a vote by the Security Council to remove UN sanctions against him. Sharaa is expected to seek US funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of civil war. In October, the World Bank put a &quot;conservative best estimate&quot; of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.

President Sharaa will be the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country's independence in 1946; Syria's new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.

Syrian president due at White House for landmark talks

WASHINGTON: Syria&#39;s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country&#39;s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist.&nbsp;Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.&nbsp;It&#39;s the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country&#39;s independence in 1946, according to analysts.&nbsp;The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president&#39;s regional tour in May.&nbsp;US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa would &quot;hopefully&quot; sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).&nbsp;The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus &quot;to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel,&quot; a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP.&nbsp;The State Department&#39;s decision Friday to remove Sharaa from the blacklist was widely expected.&nbsp;State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa&#39;s government had been meeting US demands including on working to find missing Americans and on eliminating any remaining chemical weapons.&nbsp;&quot;These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,&quot; Pigott said.&nbsp;The spokesman added that the US delisting would promote &quot;regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.&quot;&nbsp;Transformation Sharaa&#39;s Washington trip comes after his landmark visit to the United Nations in September &mdash; his first time on US soil &mdash; where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.&nbsp;On Thursday, Washington led a vote by the Security Council to remove UN sanctions against him.&nbsp;Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa&#39;s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.&nbsp;Since taking power, Syria&#39;s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.&nbsp;The White House visit &quot;is further testament to the US commitment to the new Syria and a hugely symbolic moment for the country&#39;s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,&quot; International Crisis Group US program director Michael Hanna said.&nbsp;Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of brutal civil war.&nbsp;In October, the World Bank put a &quot;conservative best estimate&quot; of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.

Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

Articles tagged with "US Syria relations"

Syria joins alliance against Islamic State after White House talks

Syrian president due at White House for landmark talks

Syrian president arrives in US for landmark visit