Trump hosts Syrian president once wanted as 'terrorist' in historic White House visit
The United States says it is halting comprehensive sanctions on Syria for the next 180 days, following a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, someone the U.S. once branded a "terrorist," at the White House on Monday.
The Treasury Department said that Trump "is delivering on his commitment to give Syria ‘a chance at greatness'" by suspending the Caesar Act, legislation that upholds tough sanctions against Syria which were imposed over alleged widespread human rights abuses by the former regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The visit on Monday between the two leaders marked the first time a Syrian president has ever visited the White House and is viewed as a crucial first step in normalizing U.S.-Syria relations.
The Caesar Act is suspended, except for sanctionable transactions with Russia and Iran, the Treasury Department said. If the U.S. wishes to permanently remove sanctions against Syria, Congress will need to act by repealing the 2019 law.
A senior Trump administration official said Trump and al-Sharaa were expected to focus on counterterrorism efforts in Syria. The official confirmed that Syria is now set to join the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State following the meeting. The coalition includes some 80 countries working to prevent a resurgence of the extremist group, according to the official.
The White House did not allow reporters and cameras access to the Oval Office meeting, as Trump often does, but photographers caught up to him outside.
Al-Sharaa is the former leader of U.S.-designated terror group al-Qaeda who was once wanted by the U.S. as a terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head. He has even served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
It's the third meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa this year, as the Syrian leader confronts the challenges of rebuilding the country, seeking to restore ties with Arab countries and the West after years of civil war under the Assad regime. The Assad regime's fall brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil war.
Al-Sharaa arrived in Washington on Saturday and held meetings with members of Congress over the weekend, including with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, a Republican who represents a district in Florida.
Mast shared in a statement that he and al-Sharaa "broke bread" and had a "long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS, and extremism."
"He and I are two former soldiers and two former enemies. I asked him directly ‘Why we are no longer enemies?’" Mast revealed.
"His response was that he wishes to ‘liberate from the past and have a noble pursuit for his people and his country and to be a great ally to the United States of America,'" Mast shared in the statement.
The U.S. on Friday removed sanctions on al-Sharaa just one day after the United Nations Security Council lifted similar sanctions ahead of his meeting with Trump.
According to a notice on the U.S. Treasury Department website, the United States removed Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations on Sharaa and Syria's interior minister, Anas Khattab.
