Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, a former Syrian al-Qaeda leader and a former Islamic State terrorist, is now being welcomed to the White House as the president of Syria.
According to the Damascus state news agency, al-Sharaa will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. It will be the first official visit to Washington by a Syrian head of state since the country gained independence in 1946. The former rebel leader, who overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime last year, has since sought to project a more moderate image of his country.
The U.S. State Department said al-Sharaa’s removal from the blacklist recognises the Syrian leadership’s progress in locating missing Americans and dismantling its remaining chemical weapons. During the visit, the two sides are expected to sign an agreement on Syria’s accession to the coalition against the Islamic State and discuss reconstruction of the war-torn country, which the World Bank estimates will cost at least $216 billion.
The former jihadist leader’s international acceptance is growing: he addressed the UN General Assembly in September, and last week, the Security Council voted to lift sanctions against him. Analysts say the White House visit marks another step in Sharaa’s transformation from Al-Qaeda militant to international statesman.
While the interim president is making the international rounds reestablishing diplomatic relations, on the ground in Syria, help organizations report Alawite, Druze, and Christian minorities being systematically targeted by his regime.
