Trump holds first-ever White House meeting with Syrian leader

President Trump is meeting on Monday at the White House with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the White House said. Why it matters: This is the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House and another key step in rebuilding U.S.-Syrian relations. It's particularly unusual given al-Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda commander who was until recently on the U.S. terrorism blacklist.Driving the news: Al-Sharaa arrived in Washington on Saturday and held meeting with the members of the Syrian-American community and with members of Congress. The key issue in his meeting with Trump is the signing of an agreement for Syria to join the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.Syria's embassy in Washington will also be reopening after more than a decade, which a senior U.S. official said would "further counterterrorism, security, and economic coordination."What they're saying: Trump said after the meeting that al-Sharaa is a "tough" leader whom he "likes" and gets along with. Trump added that the U.S. will do everything it can to help Syria succeed. The Syrian presidency said in a statement that al-Sharaa and Trump discussed bilateral relations and "ways to strengthen and develop them, in addition to a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest."Behind the scenes: Syrian minister of information Hamza al-Mustafa wrote on X that the meeting lasted more than an hour and was "warm, candid, and forward-looking."Mustafa said Trump and al-Sharaa discussed expanding economic cooperation, attracting American investments to Syria, and plans to lift the sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act."President Trump affirmed his commitment, stating: 'We have to get this done — we have to help Syria,'" Musafa wrote. He added that Trump and al-Sharaa discussed the integration of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian Army.The intrigue: Syria signed a political cooperation declaration with the International Coalition to Defeat ISIS.Mustafa stressed it was a political agreement and didn't contain military components for now. The U.S. official said Syria had joined the international effort to "eliminate ISIS remnants and halt foreign fighter flows."State of play: Ahead of al-Sharaa's visit to Washington, the UN Security Council voted to remove him and his interior minister from the UN terrorism blacklist. After the vote, the Trump administration followed up by delisting al-Sharaa as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). On Monday, that Treasury Department announced that Caesar Act sanctions would be suspended for another six months, except for certain transactions involving Russia and Iran."The Treasury, State, and Commerce departments will jointly announce measures taken to lift economic restrictions and providing compliance clarity for investors", a senior U.S. official said.Al-Sharaa's government has appealed to Congress for a full repeal of the harsh sanctions, which were imposed on the Assad regime in 2019.Between the lines: The White House kept al-Sharaa's visit low-profile and didn't open the Oval Office to the press as with visits from most other world leaders.Al-Sharaa entered the White House without Trump welcoming him at the entrance and without taking a joint photo. The big picture: One of the issues discussed in the meeting was a potental new security agreement between Syria and Israel. The U.S. goal is to reach a security agreement on the border between the two countries by the end of the year, U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack told Axios two weeks ago. Trump said after his meeting with al-Sharaa that he is working with Israel on "getting along" with Syria."President Trump expressed his support for a potential security arrangement with Israel, aimed at enhancing national and regional stability," the Syrian minister of information wrote on X.This story was updated throughout.

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