President Donald Trump hosted Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, welcoming the once-pariah state into a U.S-led global coalition to fight the Islamic State group.
Al-Sharaa arrived at the White House around 11:30 a.m. and shortly after began his Oval Office meeting, which remained closed to the press. The Syrian president entered the building through West Executive Avenue, adjacent to the White House, rather than on the West Wing driveway used for other foreign leaders' arrivals. He left the White House about two hours later and greeted a throng of supporters gathered outside before getting into his motorcade.
It marked the first visit to the White House by a Syrian head of state since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in 1946 and comes after the U.S. lifted sanctions imposed on Syria during the decades the country was ruled by the Assad family. Al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad last December and was named the country's interim leader in January.
Trump and al-Sharaa — who once had ties to al-Qaida and had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head — first met in May in Saudi Arabia. At the time, the U.S. president described al-Sharaa as a "young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past, very strong past. Fighter." It was the first official encounter between the U.S. and Syria since 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton met with Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar Assad
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Syria will join the international coalition to combat the Islamic State group, marking a shift in US foreign policy in the Middle East, a senior Trump administration official has confirmed.
The announcement came as President Donald Trump met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House – the first such visit from a Syrian leader in the country's history.
In an interview with Special Report on Fox News, al-Sharaa said the visit was part of a "new era" in which the country would co-operate with the US.
Posted by —4758—
2 Comments
Former jihadist in the White House. What a transformation. I hope all the sanctions and trade restrictions put on Syria are lifted so they can re-integrate into global market.
Anyway, Syrian ETF when ?
Imagine telling someone in 2002 that a former al qaeda leader would be chilling in the white house with president Donald Trump lmao
It would sound like something out of a particularly deranged south park episode