Ahmed al-Sharaa becomes first Syrian leader to visit the White House

Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda, on Monday became the first-ever Syrian president to visit the White House, in a reflection of Damascus’s stunning shift from a US-designated sponsor of terror to partner.

Sharaa, whose Islamist rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country's 1946 independence from France. The Assad family had courted Russia and Iran as partners. 

“We have to make Syria work. Syria is a big part of the Middle East,” Trump said after meeting Sharaa.

“He is a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place, and he is a tough guy,” Trump said, referring to Sharaa. “We will do everything we can to make Syria successful.”

Sharaa’s Islamist group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled Assad in December 2024. Since then, he has moved to solidify Damascus’s security partnership with the US, as he tries to reassert authority over the Kurdish-dominated northeast of Syria and address Israeli attacks in the south. 

Sharaa’s government is already closely aligned with the US’s Nato ally, Turkey.

Earlier this year, Turkey began training Syrian soldiers. Trump said that his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is “very much in favour of what is happening in Syria”.

'He is a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place and he is a tough guy'

- President Donald Trump

While Sharaa has received a cooler reception from Egypt and the UAE, which are wary of his past, he has forged closer links to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

US officials said ahead of Sharaa's visit that they expected him to formally be part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group. 

It is a head-spinning turn for Sharaa, 43, who served roughly five years in a US prison after travelling to Iraq to repel the 2003 US invasion. He went on to found al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch. Nusra Front later fought against IS. 

But HTS was itself only delisted as a terrorist group by Washington in July. Sharaa was taken off the list on Friday.

Patrick Haenni, an expert on HTS, previously told Middle East Eye that Sharaa’s ability to assuage the concerns of foreign powers over his past, and potentially future intentions, has been his chief accomplishment.

“Sharaa’s main success has been showing that Syria will not be the breeding ground for any movement that will challenge another state. That includes everyone: Palestinian militants, Shia militant groups, the PKK, and the Muslim Brotherhood, for what it’s worth,” said Haenni, who is the co-author of Transformed by the People, a book on HTS’s rise to power.

Basketball and dinner with a pro-Israel Republican

On Sunday, Sharaa and his foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, were filmed playing basketball with the US’s top Middle East general, Centcom commander Brad Cooper. Sharaa also had a meal with Republican pro-Israel Congressman Brian Mast, who has been blocking congressional efforts to repeal sanctions on Syria. 

Despite the flurry of meetings, there were signs that the White House was moving cautiously with Sharaa’s visit.

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Sharaa entered the White House through the back door and was not given the ceremonial honour guard that is rolled out for most foreign leaders. Trump also eschewed his now legendary press gaggles, where foreign leaders join him for questions in the Oval Office.

Still, Syria’s official news agency released a photo of Trump and Sharaa smiling and shaking hands in the Oval Office.

Another image showed Sharaa, Shaibani, US Vice President JD Vance and US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack all sitting in front of Trump behind his desk.

Barrack, who is also the envoy to Syria, is lobbying for a deal whereby the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) incorporates into the Syrian military. But the SDF has been reluctant to surrender the autonomy it earned while fighting IS on the US’s behalf.

Experts say the closer Sharaa moves to the US, the more American support for the SDF becomes redundant.

'Time on Sharaa's side'

“Time plays in Sharaa’s favour. The Americans are moving gradually to Damascus,” Dareen Khalifa, at the International Crisis Group, previously told MEE. “The military resources that are coming to Damascus will also be significant.”

Reuters and AFP have reported that the US is eyeing opening an air base south of Damascus. The move has been described as part of a wider effort for the US to monitor a de-escalation agreement it is trying to broker between Sharaa’s government and Israel.

Sharaa’s successes in foreign policy circles have been slow to translate into economic gains for ordinary citizens, who experts say face a stalling economy and corruption.

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Western companies are interested in investing in Syria, and Sharaa has obtained pledges from wealthy Gulf states to take part in Syria’s estimated $200bn reconstruction. But businesspeople and officials say the lingering threat of sanctions is deterring investment.

Trump announced in May that he was lifting all US sanctions on Syria, in a move he credited to the lobbying of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Trump has moved to repeal the sanctions he can impose as president swiftly. On Monday, he also announced another 180-day waiver on crippling Caesar Sanctions.

But the 2019 Caesar Sanctions law was passed by Congress, which is the only branch of government that can fully repeal it. The Trump administration is lobbying Congress to repeal the sanctions, but Congressman Mast has been blocking the effort, diplomats, US officials and activists say.

Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force who is spearheading the push to repeal Caesar, a law his group originally helped author, said there needs to be a “clear-cut repeal” in order for Gulf states and western companies to have confidence in investing.

“If there is any hint of a snapback, no company is going to move into Syria. That is what Netanyahu wants and President Donald Trump is against,” Moustafa told MEE for an earlier article.