Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa held talks with US president Donald Trump at the White House — the first official visit by a Syrian leader since national independence in 1946. Sharaa was expected to press Washington to lift remaining sanctions imposed on Syria during the 13-year conflict, arguing they are no longer justified as his government works to rebuild the country.
Sharaa, whose Islamist rebel forces toppled Bashar al-Assad late last year, has courted the US president to reverse economic restrictions. His media adviser, Ahmad Zeidan, said the top priority is repeal of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, which ties broad sanctions to alleged human rights abuses from the Assad era.
Trump first met Sharaa last May in Riyadh during a Gulf Cooperation Council summit and praised him publicly. The US president later ordered most sanctions lifted in a major policy shift, but the Caesar Act remains in place and would require congressional action to remove permanently.
Sharaa is a former militant leader who once carried a $10m US bounty and previously led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the military operation to oust Assad. Washington recently led a UN Security Council action to quash UN sanctions against him. In September he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
“We have a big mission to build the economy,” Sharaa said on the sidelines of that gathering. “Syria has a diverse workforce. They love to work, it’s in its genes. So don’t be worried, just lift the sanctions and you will see the results.” The World Bank has estimated the conservative cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.
The US State Department on Friday removed Sharaa from a terrorism blacklist, a step that had been widely anticipated. He is expected to formally join the US-led coalition against Islamic State during his Washington visit. Syrian authorities this month carried out nationwide preemptive operations against IS cells; the interior ministry reported 61 raids, 71 arrests and the seizure of explosives and weapons.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa’s government has been meeting US demands, including efforts to locate missing Americans and to eliminate remaining chemical weapons. “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,” Pigott said, adding that lifting punitive measures would promote “regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”
Sharaa and his team have tried to present themselves as moderates ready to usher in a new era of peace and reconstruction and to work constructively with regional powers. But Israel is reported to oppose a full lifting of US sanctions, arguing it would surrender leverage over Damascus. While Israel and Syria remain formally at war and Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights, Trump has expressed hope that the two countries might normalize relations.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report.
