Syrian President Sharaa arrives at White House in historic first

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived at the White House on Monday for a landmark meeting with President Donald Trump, becoming the first Syrian leader to visit the Oval Office. 

Attending the Oval Office talks were Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Shibani and Syria’s representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, alongside US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Syria envoy Tom Barrack, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine. Sharaa was not greeted by Trump at the entrance of the White House, a protocol typical for foreign leaders before meeting with the US president.

Later on Monday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he had joined in for part of the talks, telling reporters he was invited “at a certain point in the meeting.”

The talks mark a dramatic shift in US-Syrian relations nearly a year after Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat-Tahrir al Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December, and come as Congress weighs whether to lift remaining sanctions on Damascus.

"We want to see Syria become a country that's very successful. And I think this leader can do it. I really do,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. 

Trump has already suspended key sanctions under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act for six months, but a full repeal remains uncertain amid opposition from lawmakers wary of granting Sharaa unconditional relief.

As the Sharaa-Trump meeting was underway on Monday, the administration announced that Rubio had issued a waiver suspending Caesar Act sanctions for another 180 days. The waiver replaces the one Rubio ordered in May.

Meanwhile, as the Trump-Sharaa meeting was wrapping up, Fidan met with Rubio at the White House, a source familiar with Fidan’s talks in Washington told Al-Monitor, without offering further details. 

The Syrian Foreign Ministry suggested in a separate statement that Shibani also joined the talks. 

“President Trump also directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to hold a working meeting with Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to follow up on the agreements reached between the two presidents and to outline implementation mechanisms,” the statement read.

“Both sides agreed to proceed with the implementation of the March 10 agreement, including integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the ranks of the Syrian Arab Army," according to the statement.

“The American side also affirmed its support for reaching a security agreement with Israel aimed at enhancing regional stability,” it read.

As part of the US rapprochement effort, the Biden administration lifted a $10 million bounty on Sharaa's arrest shortly after the rebel offensive last December.

The Syrian leader is expected to urge US lawmakers to repeal the Caesar Act, which many experts say is necessary to provide international investors with the confidence to do business in Syria. The World Bank said last month that rebuilding Syria after more than a decade of brutal civil war will cost an estimated $216 billion — nearly 10 times Syria's gross domestic product last year.

Over the weekend, Sharaa met with Congressman Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, who has raised concerns about lifting the Caesar Act. Mast is seen as the main holdout among lawmakers negotiating a compromise bill.

"We had a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS and extremism,” Mast said in a statement after his meeting with the Syrian leader.

"He and I are two former soldiers and two former enemies. I asked him directly, ‘Why we are no longer enemies?’"

Trump and Sharaa have been expected to sign an agreement whereby Damascus would agree to join the US-led international coalition of nations collaborating to prevent the reemergence of the Islamic State (ISIS). The agreement is expected to formalize expanded intelligence cooperation against ISIS but is not expected to enable direct military partnership.

The last US president to hold a bilateral meeting with a Syrian leader was Bill Clinton, who met Hafez al-Assad in Geneva in 2000. Although Trump met Sharaa earlier this year in Saudi Arabia alongside Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Monday’s meeting marks their first one-on-one talks.

This developing story has been updated.