US President Donald Trump will host Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa for talks on November 10, the White House announced Tuesday, saying the former jihadist had made “good progress” toward establishing peace in his war-torn country.
“I can confirm that that meeting will be taking place here at the White House on Monday and this is part of the president’s efforts in diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.
It will be the first-ever White House visit by a Syrian head of state.
Leavitt noted that Trump had announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria during a trip to the region in May, a move which aimed “to give them a real chance at peace.”
“And I think the administration, we’ve seen good progress on that front, under their new leadership,” she added.
Though it will be Sharaa’s first visit to Washington, it will be his second to the United States after a landmark UN trip in September, where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
In May, the interim leader, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour.
Syria’s top diplomat, Asaad al-Shaibani, said last week that Sharaa would visit Washington sometime early this month to discuss lifting remaining sanctions, reconstruction and counter-terrorism.
On Saturday, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Sharaa was heading to Washington “hopefully” to sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).
Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.
Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their own violent extremist past, and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.
AFP
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