Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa arrived in Washington for an official visit, just two days after the United States formally revoked his status as a specially designated global terrorist.
The former Islamist militant will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, eleven months after his rebel alliance overthrew Bashar al-Assad.
Hours before his arrival in the US capital, it was announced that the Syrian security services had detained dozens of alleged members of the so-called Islamic State group.
Joint efforts to address what remains of the group in Syria are expected to be high on the agenda during Sharaa’s talks with Trump.
Syrian authorities said 71 suspected members of the group were arrested and weapons and explosives were also seized.
Since taking power, Sharaa has sought to restore Syria’s presence on the world stage after decades of isolation under the Assad regime and 13 years of civil war.
He traveled to the United States in September to address the UN General Assembly, where he said Syria was “reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world” and called on the international community to remove sanctions.
Earlier this week, the U.N. Security Council backed a U.S. resolution to lift the measures, which coincided with Washington continuing a months-long process of gradually easing sanctions against Syria and its new leaders.
On Friday, Sharaa and his Interior Minister Anas Hasan Khattab were removed from a US registry of people suspected of supporting or financing extremist groups, a decision the Treasury Department said was “in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership.”
Sharaa was listed under the name Muhammad al-Jawlani, the alias he used as the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group was affiliated with Al Qaeda until 2016, when Sharaa severed ties.
Before leading HTS, Sharaa fought for Al Qaeda in Iraq and was briefly imprisoned by US forces. He was also subject to a US $10 million reward.
The United States lifted its sanctions on HTS earlier this year.
Trump previously met with Sharaa in May during a visit to Riyadh, where he described him as a “tough guy, with a very strong past.”
Despite his background, Sharaa has won the backing of governments that opposed the Assad regime by promising to lead a moderate government that can win the support of Syria’s various ethnic groups and factions.
Earlier this year, he vowed to root out members of his security forces accused of executing members of Syria’s Alawite minority.
Deadly violence has also broken out in recent months between Sunni Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze militias, raising questions about whether the HTS-led government can restore stability to a country defined by war for more than a decade.
