Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa Visits White House for Historic Trump Meeting

Ahmed al-Sharaa — who 20 years ago was thrown into a US detention centre in Iraq after he joined al-Qaeda militants fighting the Americans — on Monday became the first Syrian president to visit the White House since the country’s independence in 1946. During his meeting with Donald Trump, Sharaa formally joined the 89-country coalition to defeat the militant group Isis, capping an extraordinary transformation for the erstwhile rebel leader who toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad nearly a year ago.

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Syrian companies, in turn, have found it difficult to raise funds or import goods because of concerns about complying with sanctions. The Israeli government and its allies in Washington have warned the White House against placing its trust in Sharaa and have urged Congress not to support a full repeal. Sharaa “has deep roots in the global jihad”, a pro-Israel advocacy group, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, warned in a recent report, which called on Congress to slow its “rush to repeal the Caesar Act permanently.”