Ex-al Qaeda Syria Leader Meets Trump at White House After Pledging to Be ‘Great Ally to the United States’
Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, arrived at the White House on Monday for a private Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, marking the first time a Syrian head of state has visited Washington. The meeting came just days after both the U.S. and the United Nations formally lifted sanctions on al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda figure who once had a $10 million bounty on his head.
Al-Sharaa, 43, spent roughly 90 minutes with Trump behind closed doors before walking down Pennsylvania Avenue alongside a heavy law-enforcement escort. Supporters holding signs urging Congress to permanently end remaining sanctions greeted him outside. The Trump administration had temporarily suspended several major sanctions earlier this year, citing geopolitical necessity and Syria’s shifting internal landscape.
The visit caps off an extraordinary transformation. A decade ago, al-Sharaa was known as a battlefield commander in al Qaeda–linked factions. Today, he leads Syria after his forces toppled Bashar al-Assad in a sudden offensive last December, an outcome the Trump administration quietly backed as part of its plan to stabilize the Middle East by shifting alliances.
Al-Sharaa met with Republican members of Congress prior to his White House visit. House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Brian Mast said the Syrian leader pledged that he intended to “have a noble pursuit for his people and his country and to be a great ally to the United States of America.”
A video posted online over the weekend added to al-Sharaa’s growing public-relations blitz, showing him playing basketball in Damascus with senior U.S. military commanders, including CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper and anti-ISIS coalition leader Brig. Gen. Kevin Lambert.
Al-Sharaa’s past remains controversial. He fought U.S. forces in Iraq in the mid-2000s as part of al Qaeda in Iraq and was detained by American troops in 2006 after planting roadside bombs near Mosul. He spent five years in U.S. custody before returning to Syria, where he founded the Nusra Front in 2012. That group was responsible for some of the most brutal episodes of the Syrian civil war and was targeted by U.S. airstrikes.
Over time, al-Sharaa broke with al Qaeda’s leadership and attempted to recast himself as a protector of Syria’s minority communities, including Christians, Alawites, and Druze. His forces, backed heavily by Turkey and green-lit by Ankara’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, eventually overpowered Assad’s regime.
Trump met al-Sharaa once before, during a regional tour in May. At the time, Trump described him as “a young, attractive guy” with “a strong past — a very strong past — a fighter.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Trump said. “Erdogan thinks he can do a good job. Syria is torn up, but maybe this guy can pull it off.”
The White House has not yet released details of what was agreed upon during Monday’s meeting, but senior officials say the administration views al-Sharaa as crucial to securing U.S. interests in the region and preventing Iran-aligned groups from reestablishing power inside Syria.