Syrian revolutionary President Ahmed Al Shara is set to make an official visit to Washington, D.C., the United States, U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack confirmed on Saturday. A White House official indicated that the visit could take place on November 10.
Speaking to journalists at the Manama Dialogue, Barrack said that during the visit, Syria is expected to join the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State. Syrian sources also suggested that the visit may occur within the next two weeks.
According to the U.S. State Department’s list of historic foreign leader visits, this will mark the first official visit by a Syrian head of state to Washington. Ahmed Al Shara previously addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September.
Al Shara assumed power last December after President Bashar al-Assad was ousted. Since then, he has conducted several foreign visits, aiming to restore Syria’s relations with major global powers that had largely shunned Damascus during the Assad era.
Barrack emphasized that Washington’s objective is to persuade Syria to join the anti-Islamic State coalition, established in 2014. The Islamic State, a designated terrorist organization, had previously controlled a third of Syria and parts of Iraq.
Ahmed Al Shara formerly led Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch, but a decade ago, his rebel faction broke away from the main group and engaged in conflict with the Islamic State. By 2019, the U.S.-led coalition, alongside local partners, had liberated the last Islamic State stronghold in Syria.