Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday in the first time that a Syrian head of state has visited the White House.
Trump spoke to reporters about the Oval Office meeting with the Syrian leader later in the day during a swearing-in ceremony for the new U.S. ambassador to India.
“He’s a very strong leader. He comes from a very tough place. Tough guy. I like him,” Trump said. “I get along with the president, the new president in Syria, and we’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful, because that’s part of the Middle East.”
Trump said that he expects a forthcoming announcement that Syria will join the international coalition to defeat ISIS.
“You can expect an announcement on Syria. We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful, and I think this leader can do it. I really do,” Trump said.
“We have to make Syria work. Syria is a big part of the Middle East, and I will tell you, I think it is working really well,” he said. “We’re working also with Israel on, you know, getting along with Syria, getting along with everybody, and that’s working amazingly.”
Photos posted by the office of the Syrian president on social media appear to depict a warm welcome for al-Sharaa, who was previously a member of al-Qaeda before rising to lead the Syrian rebellion against the Assad regime and taking over the country in December.
The discussions between the two leaders “addressed the bilateral relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the United States, as well as ways to strengthen and develop them, in addition to a number of regional and international issues of common interest,” according to a brief Syrian readout of the meeting .
The photos show that U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine also attended.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who lost two legs serving in Afghanistan and is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Monday that he “broke bread” with al-Sharaa on Sunday evening.
“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 stated.
“He and I are two former soldiers and two former enemies. I asked him directly, ‘Why we are no longer enemies?’” Mast said. “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.’”
During the White House meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, the State Department renewed a waiver on most U.S. sanctions on Syria for an additional 180 days.
Video on social media after al-Sharaa departed the West Wing showed the Syrian leader greeting supporters outside the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue to chants of “Allahu akbar” as the Syrian president donned a scarf thrown from the crowd depicting the Syrian rebel flag.
