Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara was not afforded the pageantry normally associated with a White House visit but he advanced political issues central to consolidating power in the country during a landmark trip to Washington.
The visit, the first by a modern Syrian head of state, has undermined his most powerful domestic rival, the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, diplomats and Syrian sources said. It may have also won over recalcitrant Congressional leader Brain Mast, whose vote is crucial for a permanent lifting of US sanctions on Syria.
Mr Al Shara, a former insurgent who was once a prisoner of American forces in Iraq, has become an important figure in the restoration of US influence in the Middle East. On Monday, he met President Donald Trump in the Oval Office after entering the White House from a side entrance.
Mr Trump and Mr Al Shara were joined by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during their meeting. Turkey is the most powerful regional supporter of Mr Al Shara, although its main interest in Syria has centred on neutralising the SDF, the only remaining formidable Kurdish group in the region that Ankara regards as hostile. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Turkish group linked to the SDF's predecessors, officially disbanded under pressure from Ankara in May.
"There is nothing leaked from the meeting so far," a Middle East diplomat said. "However, Fidan's presence means that the US wants to solve the Kurdish issue without angering Turkey, which means to the advantage of Al Shara. It raises pressure on the SDF."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the meeting as "very good". She told The National that Mr Al Shara signed the D-ISIS (Defeat ISIS) agreement, which constituted "the tangible action item" Mr Trump wanted. Mr Al Shara had led Hayat Tahrir Al Sham last December to end the Assad regime, under which Syria was firmly in the Iranian and Russian orbits.
A Syrian source said the agreement was "the tax" Mr Al Shara paid Washington in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, and referred to an overnight meeting the Syrian President had with Mr Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, whose vote on impending legislation is crucial for removing the sanctions. On Monday, the State Department announced a de facto renewal of a sanctions freeze on Syria, but Damascus wants a permanent, unconditional removal, partly to lessen uncertainty for potential international investors.
A day before meeting Mr Trump, Mr Al Shara told members of the Syrian diaspora at a meeting in Washington that the SDF, as well US sanctions, constituted "obstacles" to the country's recovery, a source who was present said.
Mr Al Shara has promised a five-year transition to a pluralistic system. However, his forces mounted two major attacks this year in which hundreds of civilians belonging to the minority Alawite and Druze sects, respectively, were killed.
Mr Al Shara has rejected demands from the Kurds and other Syrian minorities for a decentralised state. Under US pressure, the SDF has been engaging with his government to surrender its territory in eastern Syria, but no actual handovers have been agreed on. The SDF was created by the US in 2015 as the ground component of the war against ISIS in Syria, a monopoly now broken by the agreement Mr Al Shara signed at the White House on Monday.
