Meeting with Trump: Syria joins US-led coalition against IS

Washington. Syria has joined the US-led coalition to combat the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). Syria recently signed a political cooperation agreement with the international coalition to fight IS, "thereby reaffirming its role as a partner in the fight against terrorism and in supporting regional stability," Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa wrote on the X platform. "The agreement is political in nature and does not yet contain any military components," he stated.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had offered his support to Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa during a visit to the White House. "We will do everything we can to help Syria succeed, because it is part of the Middle East," Trump said after the meeting on Monday. The US president expressed his confidence in al-Sharaa: "I am confident that he can handle this task."

No press was allowed at the meeting between the two leaders in the Oval Office. There was also no press conference afterward. Al-Sharaa left the White House after about two hours, waving to onlookers before getting into his car, as observed by reporters from the Associated Press. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state to the White House since the country's independence in 1946.

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US President Trump is striving to rebuild relations with Syria after the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty. Al-Sharaa, as head of the HTS militia, led the rebel offensive that forced ruler Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia in December, ending the long civil war.

Since then, the Syrian interim president has been working to improve relations with Arab countries and the West. Due to his past ties to the terrorist group al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa has had to overcome resistance. Just in July, the US removed HTS from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Among other things, al-Sharaa intended to lobby in Washington for a permanent lifting of international sanctions against his country, which had been imposed due to human rights violations under Assad. The US Treasury Department announced on Monday that certain sanctions against Syria under the so-called Caesar Act would be suspended for another 180 days.

RND/AP