U.S. President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed enhancing bilateral relations and regional developments as they met at the White House on Monday, marking the first official visit by a Syrian leader to Washington.
In a statement, the Syrian presidency said the meeting was also attended by the two countries' foreign ministers.
Trump met with al-Sharaa in the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. leader announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the U.S. said he was no longer a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist."
Trump said his administration was working with Israel to get along with Syria. He noted that he gets along well with al-Sharaa and voiced confidence that he will be able to do the job.
"People say he's had a rough past. We've all had a rough past," Trump told reporters about al-Sharaa.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday that it is partially suspending enforcement of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria for 180 days, reaffirming Washington’s commitment to ongoing sanctions relief.
The Syrian president entered the White House through a side entrance unseen by reporters instead of through the West Wing’s main door, where cameras are positioned. Al-Sharaa, 43, took power last year after his anti-regime fighters launched a lightning offensive from their enclave in Syria's northwest and overthrew Assad just days later on Dec. 8.
Syria's regional realignment has since moved at a dizzying pace, away from Assad's key allies Iran and Russia and toward Türkiye, the Gulf - and Washington.
Syria is also set to join a U.S.-led coalition to fight Daesh, which could be formally announced at Monday's White House meeting.
Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate Daesh terrorist plots to assassinate al-Sharaa that had been foiled over the last few months, according to a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official.
The sources said the plots underlined the direct threat al-Sharaa faces as he tries to consolidate power in a country ruined by 14 years of civil war.
Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting Daesh terrorist cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects, government media said.
Days before the meeting, Trump told reporters at the White House that "a lot of progress has been made" on Syria.
"I think he's (al-Sharaa's) doing a very good job. It's a tough neighborhood, and he's a tough guy, but I got along with him very well," Trump said.
After al-Sharaa and Trump met in Riyadh in May, Trump announced he would lift all sanctions on Syria.
Syria's social fabric has been more recently tested. New bouts of sectarian violence have left more than 2,500 dead since Assad's fall, deepening civil war wounds and putting into question the new rulers' ability to govern for all Syrians.
Trump's focus on Syria comes as his administration seeks to keep intact a U.S.-brokered Gaza cease-fire deal and push forward on his 20-point plan for an end to the two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave. Some of the toughest issues remain unresolved.
