Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday, ahead of a historic meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
This marks the first time a Syrian president has visited the White House in at least 80 years.
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The meeting is of particular importance considering the US’s power in removing sanctions, something Syria badly needs to kick-start its economy.
What will be on the agenda when the two leaders meet? Read on to find out.
What is this trip about for Syria?
For Syria, it is likely about making moves to finally repeal the Caesar Act, a series of sanctions the US applied to Syria in 2019, during the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown by a lightning offensive led by al-Sharaa in December last year.
While the Trump administration gave an executive order to lift sanctions on Syria, the US Congress has to vote to repeal the Caesar Act.
US sanctions on Syria date as far back as the late 1970s, though more were applied in 2004 and again in 2011.
Republican Congressman Brian Mast, who has previously compared Palestinian civilians to Nazis, was reportedly an obstacle to the Caesar Act’s repeal.
However, Mast reportedly met with the 43-year-old al-Sharaa in the early hours of Monday morning and had a “positive and constructive” meeting, Syrian journalist Fared al-Mahlool reported on his Instagram account.
Removing all the sanctions on Syria means the country can return to the global financial system, making investments and business smoother.
It will also help it rebuild its devastated healthcare system and infrastructure damaged during the 13-year civil war that broke out after Syria’s 2011 revolution and the al-Assad government’s heavy-handed response to it.
Al-Sharaa is reportedly also seeking funds for Syrian reconstruction after the war.
Many neighbourhoods were turned to dust and continue to sit in piles of rubble. The World Bank estimates the battered country needs at least $216bn to rebuild.
What about the US?
For the US, the trip has a different significance.
Washington has high hopes it will convince Damascus to join its coalition against the armed group ISIL (ISIS).
The coalition is made up of 89 countries from across the world, and includes over a dozen Arab states.
Syria’s joining the coalition will further signal its regional integration under the new administration led by al-Sharaa.
Trump would also like to expand the Abraham Accords, a group of US-brokered normalisation deals between Israel and Arab states, by adding Syria.
Will Syria join?
Arab media is reporting that Syria is likely to sign on to the fight against ISIL.
As al-Sharaa landed in Washington, Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced the launch of a “large-scale security operation”, carrying out 61 raids that targeted ISIL cells across the country.
The ministry said operations were carried out in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Damascus.
Earlier this month, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said al-Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement that would have Syria join the anti-ISIL coalition.
Normalisation, however, may have to wait.
Why is this visit so historic?
It’s the first time a Syrian president will visit the White House since the country’s independence from French colonial rule in 1946.
Al-Sharaa and Trump met before in Saudi Arabia, with the latter describing the former as an “attractive, tough guy”.
But this is the first time al-Sharaa or any other Syrian president will visit the White House, signalling a warming of relations between the two countries after more than five decades of the al-Assad family’s reign.
The trip comes after al-Sharaa visited United Nations headquarters in New York City in September, his first time visiting the US.
It has been an improbable development, considering that al-Sharaa fought US forces in Iraq and was then captured and spent 2006-2011 in US prison camps.
The meeting also comes as the US is reportedly establishing a military presence at the Mezzeh airbase in Damascus.
Some reports say the US will use this presence to work at brokering a peace pact between Israel and Syria, though Syrian officials have denied this.
