Ahmed al-Sharaa — who 20 years ago was thrown into a US detention centre in Iraq after he joined al-Qaeda militants fighting the Americans — on Monday became the first Syrian president to visit the White House since the country’s independence in 1946.
During his meeting with Donald Trump, Sharaa formally joined the 89-country coalition to defeat the militant group Isis, capping an extraordinary transformation for the erstwhile rebel leader who toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad nearly a year ago.
Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday: “He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place. And he’s a tough guy. I like him, I get along with him. We want to see Syria be successful along with the rest of the Middle East. So I have confidence that he’ll be able to do the job, absolutely.”
Since seizing power last December, Sharaa, 43, has worked hard to court friends and allies after decades of Assad family rule and 14 years of ruinous civil war left Syria internationally isolated.
His charm offensive has largely worked. Western and Arab states — spurred by Washington — have lifted most of the economic sanctions imposed in the Assad era and built closer ties with a state they had long shunned.
Sharaa met privately with the US president for nearly an hour and a half on Monday, after which he was expected to hold meetings with lawmakers in an effort, backed by the White House, to permanently repeal US sanctions.
Sharaa’s government has appealed to western sensibilities by touting free markets and foreign investment, political inclusion and a pluralistic society.
Top US lawmakers in both parties have broadly welcomed his message and have thrown their support behind a vote to repeal Washington’s most stringent sanctions, known as the Caesar Act.
But Sharaa’s government is dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist insurgent group the Syrian leader once led, and critics say attempts at political inclusion have been superficial.
They also point to eruptions of sectarian violence in Syria over the past year, including clashes between government-backed forces and gunmen from the country’s Alawite and Druze religious minorities in which hundreds of civilians from both communities were killed. The government pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable, but many Syrians, particularly among minority groups, remain sceptical.
Trump in May waived most of the Assad-era sanctions on the country to give the nascent Syrian government “a chance”, after being impressed by the “tough” and “handsome” Syrian leader during a meeting in Saudi Arabia.
After Monday’s meeting, the Trump administration suspended the bulk of the Caesar Act sanctions for a further 180 days, replacing the president’s earlier waiver. The measures will still apply to “certain transactions” relating to Russia and Iran, the Treasury said.
The World Bank estimates it will take more than $200bn to rebuild the war-ravaged nation. Syria’s economic recovery has stalled amid the lingering sanctions, with foreign companies wary of investing until they are fully repealed.
Syrian companies, in turn, have found it difficult to raise funds or import goods because of concerns about complying with sanctions.
The Israeli government and its allies in Washington have warned the White House against placing its trust in Sharaa and have urged Congress not to support a full repeal.
Sharaa “has deep roots in the global jihad”, a pro-Israel advocacy group, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, warned in a recent report, which called on Congress to slow its “rush to repeal the Caesar Act permanently”.
Sharaa on Sunday met Republican congressman Brian Mast, chair of the House foreign affairs committee and a key Republican holdout on lifting sanctions.
Mast, who lost both of his legs to an improvised bomb while serving as a soldier in Afghanistan, on Monday said he and Sharaa had “a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, Isis and extremism”.
“He and I are two former soldiers and two former enemies,” Mast said. He added Sharaa told him of his desire to “liberate from the past and have a noble pursuit for his people and his country and to be a great ally to the United States of America”.
Urged on by Washington, the UN Security Council has lifted terror-related sanctions on Sharaa and his interior minister and former al-Qaeda member Anas Khattab. The UK and US followed suit.
Talks between Sharaa and Trump on Monday were expected to focus on security, including Israel, Isis and Kurdish-led forces.
Syria’s formal entry into the global anti-Isis coalition helps to seal Sharaa’s partnership with Washington and strengthens his anti-jihadi credentials with sceptics. While HTS was briefly allied with Isis in the fight to oust Assad, it has fought the group since they parted ways.
Despite no longer having territorial control, Isis cells continue to carry out attacks in Syria. Sharaa’s security forces have conducted raids on the group in recent weeks.
For years, Washington’s main ally in fighting Isis has been the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which control the country’s north-east. Talks to merge the SDF and Damascus’s security forces have stalled, despite pressure from Washington to come to a resolution.
The US military has increased its co-operation with Damascus on Isis in recent months and is said to be considering an expansion of its military presence in Syria by sending troops to an air base in the Syrian capital. This would be a boost to Sharaa’s fledgling presidency, analysts said.
Syrian analyst Malik al-Abdeh said: “It’s great for Sharaa, in that he will be backed up by a major power, and great for the US in terms of its footprint in the region and having decisive influence over Damascus. It’s a win-win.”
Moscow, a financial and military backer for Assad, has sought to smooth things over with Sharaa’s government over the past year in order to keep its strategically important air base and naval port in the country. Last month, Sharaa met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow in what was billed as a “reset” in relations.
