Syrian president meets Trump, says al-Qaeda ties in past

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by Washington as a foreign terrorist,has said his association with the militant group was a matter of the past and was not discussed in his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The Syrian president said in his interview broadcast on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" show that he was in touch with the mother of Austin Tice, a US reporter missing in Syria, and that he would do all he could to find information about the journalist.

It came after Mr Trump met with Mr Sharaa at the White House, a visit that capped a stunning year for the rebel-turned-ruler who toppled a longtime autocratic leader and has since sought to end Syria's decades of international isolation.

The meeting marked the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, six months after their first meeting in Saudi Arabia, where the US leader announced plans to lift sanctions, and just days after the US said the former al-Qaeda commander was no longer a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist".

Mr Sharaa arrived at the White House without the fanfare often given to visiting foreign leaders.

He entered through a side entrance unseen by reporters instead of through the West Wing's main door where cameras are positioned.

Mr Trump said his administration was working with Israel to get along with Syria.

"People say he's had a rough past. We've all had a rough past," Mr Trump told reporters about the Syrian president, who until recently was on Washington's terrorist blacklist.

Mr Trump said that he gets along well with Mr Sharaa, and voiced confidence that he will be able to do the job.

Mr Sharaa, 43, took power last year after his Islamist fighters launched a lightning offensive from their enclave in Syria's northwest and overthrew longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad just days later on 8 December.

Syria's regional realignment has since moved at a dizzying pace, away from Mr Assad's key allies Iran and Russia and toward Turkey, the Gulf - and Washington.

Security was expected to be a top focus of Mr Sharaa's meeting with Mr Trump, who in a major US policy shift has sought to help Syria's fragile transition.

The US is brokering talks on a possible security pact between Syria and Israel, which remains wary of Sharaa's former militant ties.

It was reported last week that the US is planning to establish a military presence at a Damascus airbase.

Syria is also set to join a US-led coalition to fight Islamic State, which could be formally announced at the White House meeting.

Just hours before the landmark talks, word emerged of two separate Islamic State plots to assassinate Mr Sharaa that had been foiled over the last few months, according to a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official.

The sources said the plots underlined the direct threat Mr Sharaa faces as he tries to consolidate power in a country ruined by 14 years of civil war.

Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting Islamic State cells across the country, arresting more than 70 suspects, government media said.

Barriers remain to removing sanctions

Days before the meeting, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House that "a lot of progress has been made" on Syria.

"I think he's (Mr Sharaa's) doing a very good job. It's a tough neighborhood, and he's a tough guy, but I got along with him very well," Mr Trump said.

After Mr Sharaa and Mr Trump met in Riyadh in May, Mr Trump announced he would lift all sanctions on Syria.

But the toughest measures, known as the Caesar Sanctions Act, require a repeal from Congress.

The White House and State Department have publicly backed lifting them before 2025 ends, but experts say the government shutdown may affect that time frame.

Mr Sharaa is expected to strongly advocate for a repeal, which will help spur global investment in a country ravaged by 14 years of war and which the World Bank estimates will take more than $200 billion to rebuild.

Several influential members of Congress have called for the lifting of the 2019 Caesar sanctions, passed in response to human rights abuses under Bashar al- Assad.

A few of Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans want the sanctions to stay in place, but that could change if Mr Trump applies pressure.

Syria's social fabric has been more recently tested.

New bouts of sectarian violence left more than 2,500 dead since Mr Assad's fall, deepening civil war wounds and putting into question the new rulers' ability to govern for all Syrians.

Donald Trump's focus on Syria comes as his administration seeks to keep intact a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas militants and push forward on his 20-point plan for an end to the two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

Some of the toughest issues remain unresolved.

Dramatic shift in relations with al-Sharaa

Mr Sharaa's own turnaround is no less impressive than his country's.

He joined al Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 US-led invasion and spent years in US prison there, before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Assad.

In 2013, the US designated Mr Sharaa, then known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, as a terrorist for his ties to al Qaeda.

He broke ties with the group in 2016 and consolidated his influence in Syria's northwest.

The US removed a $10 million bounty on Mr Sharaa's head in December, and just last week, the United Nations Security Council lifted terror-related sanctions designations on him and his Interior Minister Anas Khattab.

Following the UN move, Britain and the US lifted sanctions on the pair. In Washington, that included removing "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" designations on them.

"Sharaa's visit to Washington is emblematic of the dramatic shift underway, where Syria went from being an Iranian satrapy to joining the American-led camp, and Sharaa himself transformed from a wanted terrorist to a partner in the war on terror," said Firas Maksad, managing director for Middle East and North Africa at the New York-based Eurasia Group.

"Much can still go wrong in this nascent experiment, and there remain grave concerns about minority and individual rights," Mr Maksad said, "but the first ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington is a moment of hope that Syria is on the right track."