President Ahmed al-Sharaa will become Syria’s first leader to pay an official visit to the White House on Monday, a crowning achievement for the ex-jihadist who since taking power has ended his country’s isolation.<\/p>\n
Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet President Donald Trump during the unprecedented visit.<\/p>\n
US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa will “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).<\/p>\n
The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus “to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel”, a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP.<\/p>\n
Just days before the visit, the United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to lift sanctions on Sharaa, who until now had needed a UN exemption for every trip abroad.<\/p>\n
The resolution was drafted by the US, whose ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Sharaa’s government was “working hard to fulfil its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics”.<\/p>\n
In May, the interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour.<\/p>\n
Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.<\/p>\n
Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.<\/p>\n
– ‘Big statement’ –<\/p>\n
Sharaa’s trip to Washington will be “the first in modern Syrian history for a Syrian president to the White House”, historian Sami Moubayed told AFP.<\/p>\n
It will also be Sharaa’s second visit to the United States after a landmark trip in September, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n
“Sharaa’s visit to the White House is a declaration of a new chapter in US policy on the Middle East,” said Nick Heras, an analyst at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy.<\/p>\n
“Trump is bringing Sharaa to the White House to make a big statement that Sharaa is not a terrorist anymore,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The Trump team sees Sharaa as a pragmatic, and importantly pliable, leader who under American and Saudi guidance will secure Syria as a strategic bulwark in the region for decades to come.”<\/p>\n
Sharaa for his part is expected to seek funds for Syria.<\/p>\n
“Sharaa wants Trump’s blessing to unlock billions of dollars… both to kickstart the rehabilitation of Syria and to cement his control over the country indefinitely,” Heras said.<\/p>\n
Reconstruction is one of the most significant challenges facing Syria’s new Islamist authorities after 13 long years of brutal civil war.<\/p>\n
In October, the World Bank put a “conservative best estimate” of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion.<\/p>\n
– ‘Israeli influence’ –<\/p>\n
A diplomatic source in Syria told AFP that the United States “intends to establish a military base at the Mazzeh military airport near Damascus to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel”.<\/p>\n
Another Syrian diplomatic source said “the question of Syria joining the anti-jihadist coalition will be at the top of the agenda” for the White House meeting.<\/p>\n
The majority of US troops deployed in Syria are based in areas controlled by Kurdish forces in the north-east.<\/p>\n
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) played a vital role in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, which ultimately led to the jihadist organisation’s territorial defeat in the country in 2019.<\/p>\n
The SDF are currently negotiating their integration into Syria’s military.<\/p>\n
Trump and Sharaa will also discuss the direct negotiations that Syria and Israel, which remain technically at war, opened after Assad’s overthrow.<\/p>\n
Trump has expressed hope that Syria will join other Arab countries that have normalised ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n
In September, Sharaa said he hoped for a security deal to ease tensions with Israel but played down the prospect of recognition.<\/p>\n
Since December, Israel has deployed troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates the countries’ forces and has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria. Damascus has not retaliated.<\/p>\n
For Heras, “Trump’s vision for Syria includes significant Israeli influence over a strategic swath of the country for years to come”.<\/p>\n
mam-at\/lar\/amj\/dc<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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