US President Donald Trump will host Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara for talks in Washington next week marking the first-ever visit by a Syrian leader to the White House.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani confirmed on Sunday that the meeting will take place early this month and focus on postwar reconstruction and easing sanctions on Damascus.
“This visit is certainly historic,” Mr Shibani told a panel at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain. Many topics will be discussed, starting with the lifting of sanctions.”
US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Saturday that Mr Al Shara’s visit is scheduled for November 10, indicating a potential thaw in relations between Washington and Damascus after more than a decade of isolation.
The Syrian leader is expected to sign an agreement to join the US-led coalition against ISIS – a major policy shift for a country long viewed by Washington as a pariah state.
It underscores a remarkable turnaround for Mr Al Shara, who once had a $10 million US bounty on his head and was sanctioned by Washington over his role in the country’s brutal civil conflict.
The planned talks come at a delicate moment in Middle East diplomacy.
Mr Trump has been pressing regional allies to “seize the moment” and consolidate a lasting peace following the ceasefire and hostage-exchange deal reached earlier this month between Israel and Hamas.
If the visit proceeds as planned, Mr Al Shara will become the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez al Assad met former President Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.
For Washington, the meeting represents a dramatic recalibration of policy towards Damascus, one that could reshape the political landscape of the Middle East.
