From the FBI blacklist to the White House: Donald Trump received Ahmed al-Chareh on Monday, in what was the first visit for a Syrian head of state and a dedication for the former jihadist, whose country will join the international coalition against the Islamic State group. “I love it,” the American president reacted after the meeting, which took place without cameras, and added: “We will do everything we can to make Syria a success. »
“He has a brutal past, and I think, frankly, without a brutal past, you don’t have a chance,” Donald Trump said again. He previously expressed sympathy for the interim president, whose Islamist coalition ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, in their first meeting in May in the Gulf.
As widely expected, the visit was an opportunity to announce Syria’s entry into the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States, which targets ISIS. “Syria will be the 90th member of the coalition against Daesh,” said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. According to him, Damascus will now “partner with the United States to eliminate Daesh’s last centers and end the influx of foreign fighters”.
In an interview with Fox News, the Syrian President recently assured that this issue remains to be discussed. Historically, Ahmed al-Chareh’s visits have been relatively secretive: he passed through a side door, without the protocol usually reserved for foreign heads of state and government, who are almost always greeted by American presidents on their walks.
Journalists were also not invited to the Oval Office in the presence of the two leaders. After nearly two hours at the White House, Ahmed al-Chareh greeted his supporters with cheers.
New breakthrough from US sanctions
The State Department also announced a new pause on US Caesar Act sanctions, pending the possibility of Congress lifting them once and for all. This is a 180-day break from a law adopted in 2019 that imposed drastic American sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s government, banning the country from international banking and financial transactions in dollars. He had been suspended in May.
The United States also authorized Syria to resume its embassy activities in Washington, said the same official who asked not to be named. The United States plans to set up a military base near Damascus, “to coordinate humanitarian assistance and monitor developments between Syria and Israel,” according to a diplomatic source in Syria. On Friday, Washington removed the Syrian leader from its terrorist blacklist.
From 2017 until last December, the FBI offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of the leader of Al-Qaeda’s former local branch, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. On Thursday, the UN Security Council also lifted sanctions against Ahmed al-Chareh, at the initiative of the United States.
Soon after he took power, the Syrian leader broke with his past, improving his stance towards the West and countries in the region, including Israel with which his country is theoretically at war. However, he also vowed to “redefine” his country’s relations with Russia led by Vladimir Putin, a key ally of Bashar al-Assad, whom he met in Moscow less than a month ago.
“Trump brought Chareh to the White House to say that he was no longer a terrorist (…) but a pragmatic and, above all, flexible leader who, under American and Saudi leadership, would make Syria a strategic regional pillar,” explains analyst Nick Heras.
“Having a stable and prosperous Syria is critical for all countries in the region,” Donald Trump said on his Truth Social network. In May, Donald Trump urged his Syrian counterpart to rejoin the Abraham Accords, which saw several Arab countries recognize Israel in 2020. On Fox News, Ahmed al-Chareh said he would not immediately enter into direct negotiations with Israel.
