Syria's leader to Washington

TT

Published 20.22

 

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, here in a picture from September this year. Photo: Andres Kudacki/AP/TT

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa will visit Washington in November and meet with President Donald Trump, among other things, several media outlets report.

The formal reason for the trip is that al-Sharaa will sign an agreement that his country will be part of the US-led global coalition against IS.

But he is also expected to meet Donald Trump and then become the first Syrian president to visit the White House, writes Axios.

The visit is believed to take place on November 10, but the date has not been confirmed.

The visit was revealed by the US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, during a meeting with journalists in Bahrain. He also states that new negotiations between Syria and Israel on a security agreement between the countries will begin after al-Sharaa's trip to the US.

Ahmed al-Sharaa was the leader of the Islamist rebel group HTS that led the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad in December last year.

The movement, which was linked to al-Qaeda, has been officially dissolved, but its members have been incorporated into the new state apparatus. The US lifted its terrorist designation of the group in July this year, and Britain did so as late as last week.

Since al-Sharaa came to power, he has made a dramatic change, and has already met Trump in Saudi Arabia. In September, he spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York, then as the first Syrian leader in almost 60 years.