Published On 9/11/2025
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Last update: 02:30 (Mecca time)
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday, in a historic visit, the first by a Syrian president to the White House.
The Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported that Al-Sharaa is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump at the White House.
Al-Sharaa made his first visit to the United States to participate in the work of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he delivered a speech, but his visit to Washington was the first for a Syrian president.
During this visit, Damascus is expected to sign an agreement to join the international coalition against ISIS led by Washington, according to what the US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, announced.
At the same time, the United States intends to establish a military base near Damascus, according to what was reported by Reuters and French agencies, but Damascus denied this, according to what SANA reported, citing an official source in the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Prior to this visit, the United States on Friday officially removed Al-Sharaa’s name from the sanctions list, days before his visit to Washington and the day after the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against him as well.
Just a year ago, Al-Sharaa, then known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, was leading Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. The United Nations imposed sanctions on him in 2013 as the leader of this organization.
Trump and Shara are also expected to discuss direct negotiations between the Syrian authorities and Israel.
In May, Trump urged the Syrian president to join the Abraham Accords, a process that in 2020 saw many Arab countries normalize their relations with Israel.
Al-Sharaa announced in September that negotiations with Israel aim to reach a security agreement under which Israel will withdraw from areas in southern Syria to which it advanced after the fall of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and stop its raids.
Since December, Syria has been subjected to many Israeli raids and incursions into the south of the country, without responding to them.