Syria to join coalition to defeat IS group after Trump meeting

Syria will join the international coalition to fight ISIS, marking a shift in US foreign policy in the Middle East, a senior Trump administration official has confirmed to CBS, the BBC’s US media partner.

This announcement came at a time when President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House, the first visit of its kind by a Syrian leader in the country’s history.

Diplomatic relations between Syria and the United States have been suspended since 2012, despite Trump’s move to restore them after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Trump has expressed support for Sharaa, who until recently was classified as a terrorist by the US government.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office several hours after the meeting, Trump said: “We want to see Syria become a very successful country.”

He added: “And I believe that this leader can do that.” “I really do.”

Trump said more “announcements” would be made, but did not provide any details.

This is the third meeting between the two leaders, after a meeting in May on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council and a dinner on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House culminates in a remarkable reconfiguration of the former jihadist.

Not long ago, he led a branch of Al Qaeda — the group behind the September 11 attacks and many others — before severing ties.

Until this year, he was the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist militant group that the United States officially considered a terrorist organization until four months ago, with a $10 million bounty on its head.

The Treasury Department removed Sharaa from the Specially Designated Global Terrorists List just last week.

But since becoming Syria’s interim president, Sharaa has worked to improve his public image while trying to rebuild Syria, with outside support, after 13 years of war.

“He’s had a difficult past,” Trump said Monday. “And I think, frankly, if you don’t have a difficult past, you don’t have a chance.”

However, Shara’s rule has been marred by killings of members of Syria’s Alawite minority, as well as deadly violence between Sunni Bedouin fighters and Druze militias.

He pledged to eliminate members of his security forces who committed human rights violations.

For his part, Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for Sharaa, describing him as an “attractive young man” and a “fighter” with a “strong past.”

In June, President Trump signed an executive order lifting sanctions on Syria, which the White House said would help support the country’s “path to stability and peace.”

At the time, the administration said it would monitor the actions of the new Syrian government, including “taking steps toward normalizing relations with Israel” and confronting “foreign terrorists” and armed groups operating in the country.