US President Donald Trump hailed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa after unprecedented talks at the White House Monday, saying Sharaa’s “rough” past as a jihadist would help him rebuild the war-torn country. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country’s independence in 1946. But the 43-year-old’s landmark visit to the Oval Office came just days after Washington removed him from its terrorism list. Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Trump said he wanted Syria to become “very successful” after more than a decade of civil war and added that he believed Sharaa “can do it, I really do.” Trump said Syria was a “big part” of his plan for a wider Middle East peace plan, which the US president is hoping will prop up the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But he would not confirm reports that Sharaa would bring Syria into the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS) group, or that it would sign any non-aggression pact with long-term foe Israel.
