WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump will host Ahmad al-Sharaa for talks, a first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, an administration official said Saturday.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the yet to be formally announced engagement, said that the meeting is expected to take place Nov. 10.
Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May in what was the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years and one that could serve as a turning point for Syria as it struggles to emerge from decades of international isolation.
The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marked a major turn of events for a Syria that is still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family.
Al-Sharaa once had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.
Under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa had ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by U.S. troops there for several years.