President Donald Trump will host Ahmad al-Sharaa for talks, a first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, an administration official said on Saturday. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly about the yet to be formally announced engagement, said that the meeting is expected to take place Nov 10. Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May in what was the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years. Syria continues to struggle to emerge from decades of international isolation.
The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, was seen as a major turn of events for a Syria that is still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family. Al-Sharaa once had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa had ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by US troops there for several years.
Al-Sharaa is expected during his visit to sign an agreement on joining the US-led coalition against ISIS, the official said. Al-Sharaa in the May meeting became the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000. The visit comes as Trump is urging Middle East allies to seize the moment to build a durable peace in the volatile region after Israel and Hamas earlier this month began implementing a ceasefire and hostage deal.
