The historic visit of Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani to the White House on November 11 marks a significant milestone in the warming of relations between Washington and Damascus and in Syria’s return to the fold of the international community. This process began with the Trump–al-Sharaa meeting in Riyadh last May and continued with al-Sharaa’s address to the UN General Assembly. It is worth noting that this is the first visit by a Syrian president to the US capital since Syria’s independence in 1946.
The meeting between the two presidents focused on several key issues reflecting each side’s priorities: For Syria, beyond consolidating internal legitimacy and gaining international recognition for al-Sharaa, the visit served as a critical opportunity to advance the final removal of the American Caesar sanctions, which have hindered the country’s reconstruction and rebuilding efforts. During the visit, it was agreed to suspend the sanctions imposed on Syria under the Caesar Act for six months. It was also decided to reopen the Syrian embassy in the United States. In an interview following the meeting with Fox News, al-Sharaa stated that it’s a new beginning for Syria’s strategic relationship with the United States, and that “Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat; it is now looked at as a geopolitical ally.”
From the American perspective, the visit advanced two primary interests. The first is integrating Syrian military and security forces, likely in coordination with Kurdish forces, into the international coalition against ISIS. Although intelligence cooperation between Damascus and coalition partners against ISIS has taken place in recent months, from Washington’s view, this represents a significant step toward making Syria, officially, a member of the pro-Western bloc of nations combating terrorism and extremist organizations. This development is remarkable given that less than a year ago, al-Sharaa headed the extremist jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Syria’s Justice Minister and cleric Mazhar al-Awis was quick to “legitimize” Syria’s participation in the coalition, clarifying that it’s limited to intelligence and security cooperation rather than a military alliance, and that the move will actually strengthen Syria’s sovereignty more than increase dependence on external actors.
The second topic discussed was achieving a security agreement between Syria and Israel. Although no significant progress was recorded, during the meeting Trump emphasized that such an announcement could be expected, stating that “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful…We’re working also with Israel on getting along with Syria, getting along with everybody, and that’s working amazingly.” From Trump’s perspective, the security agreement is expected to pave the way for normalization between the two countries, even though both sides stressed that the conditions for this are not yet ripe. Al-Sharaa reiterated his position that “the situation in Syria is different from the situation of the countries who signed on to the Abraham Accords. Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel occupies the Golan Heights,” adding, “We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now.”
Despite the optimistic atmosphere and the celebrations seen last night in Syria and outside the White House, criticism can also be heard in the Syrian discourse about the gap between al-Sharaa’s impressive achievements on the international stage and the complex domestic reality—the internal divisions and incidents of violence against minorities, the difficulty of integrating Kurdish forces into the army’s structures, the need for substantial political reforms, and above all, the severe economic crisis. American backing is indeed a promising start in addressing some of these challenges, but the burden of proof and the hard work still rest squarely on al-Sharaa himself.
The historic visit of Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani to the White House on November 11 marks a significant milestone in the warming of relations between Washington and Damascus and in Syria’s return to the fold of the international community. This process began with the Trump–al-Sharaa meeting in Riyadh last May and continued with al-Sharaa’s address to the UN General Assembly. It is worth noting that this is the first visit by a Syrian president to the US capital since Syria’s independence in 1946.
The meeting between the two presidents focused on several key issues reflecting each side’s priorities: For Syria, beyond consolidating internal legitimacy and gaining international recognition for al-Sharaa, the visit served as a critical opportunity to advance the final removal of the American Caesar sanctions, which have hindered the country’s reconstruction and rebuilding efforts. During the visit, it was agreed to suspend the sanctions imposed on Syria under the Caesar Act for six months. It was also decided to reopen the Syrian embassy in the United States. In an interview following the meeting with Fox News, al-Sharaa stated that it’s a new beginning for Syria’s strategic relationship with the United States, and that “Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat; it is now looked at as a geopolitical ally.”
From the American perspective, the visit advanced two primary interests. The first is integrating Syrian military and security forces, likely in coordination with Kurdish forces, into the international coalition against ISIS. Although intelligence cooperation between Damascus and coalition partners against ISIS has taken place in recent months, from Washington’s view, this represents a significant step toward making Syria, officially, a member of the pro-Western bloc of nations combating terrorism and extremist organizations. This development is remarkable given that less than a year ago, al-Sharaa headed the extremist jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Syria’s Justice Minister and cleric Mazhar al-Awis was quick to “legitimize” Syria’s participation in the coalition, clarifying that it’s limited to intelligence and security cooperation rather than a military alliance, and that the move will actually strengthen Syria’s sovereignty more than increase dependence on external actors.
The second topic discussed was achieving a security agreement between Syria and Israel. Although no significant progress was recorded, during the meeting Trump emphasized that such an announcement could be expected, stating that “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful…We’re working also with Israel on getting along with Syria, getting along with everybody, and that’s working amazingly.” From Trump’s perspective, the security agreement is expected to pave the way for normalization between the two countries, even though both sides stressed that the conditions for this are not yet ripe. Al-Sharaa reiterated his position that “the situation in Syria is different from the situation of the countries who signed on to the Abraham Accords. Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel occupies the Golan Heights,” adding, “We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now.”
Despite the optimistic atmosphere and the celebrations seen last night in Syria and outside the White House, criticism can also be heard in the Syrian discourse about the gap between al-Sharaa’s impressive achievements on the international stage and the complex domestic reality—the internal divisions and incidents of violence against minorities, the difficulty of integrating Kurdish forces into the army’s structures, the need for substantial political reforms, and above all, the severe economic crisis. American backing is indeed a promising start in addressing some of these challenges, but the burden of proof and the hard work still rest squarely on al-Sharaa himself.