Syria foiled two Islamic State plots to assassinate President Sharaa, officials say

One of the attempts said to have focused on a recent official engagement; revelation comes as Sharaa seeks to join US-led coalition against ISIS

Syria has foiled two separate Islamic State plots to assassinate President Ahmed al-Sharaa, two senior officials said, adding a personal dimension to the leader’s plans to join a US-led coalition to fight the terror group that he has long battled.

The sources, a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official, said the plots on Sharaa’s life were foiled over the last few months and underlined the direct threat he faces as he tries to consolidate power in a country ruined by 14 years of civil war.

The sources said that, in one case, the ISIS plot was centered around a pre-announced official engagement involving Sharaa, declining to provide further details due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Syrian information ministry declined to comment.

The reported plots came to light as Syria is poised to join a US-led global anti-Islamic State coalition when US President Donald Trump hosts Sharaa on Monday for a historic White House meeting, the first ever by a Syrian head of state.

The Syrian president, who came to power last December after the Islamist rebel force he led ousted President Bashar al-Assad, has been keen to promote an image as a moderate leader. He hopes the meeting with Trump will unlock international support for Syria’s long-term rehabilitation and rebuilding, which the World Bank has estimated could cost at least $216 billion.

The move to join the anti-ISIS coalition exemplifies Syria’s shift since the fall of Assad from being a key ally of Russia and Iran toward closer ties with the Western and Arab camps.

Sharaa’s task in trying to unite Syria remains monumental: His forces have been embroiled in repeated bouts of sectarian violence amid attacks on civilians and security forces that Damascus has blamed on Islamic State.

Long fight against Islamic State

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

The senior Syrian security official said they were acting on intelligence that the group was planning operations against the government and Syrian minority groups.

It was also intended as a message that Syrian intelligence has deeply penetrated the group and that joining the coalition would bring a major asset to global operations against the militants.

Before taking power in an 11-day lightning offensive last year, Sharaa led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist rebel group that was formerly Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.

Sharaa broke those ties in 2016 and has waged bloody battles against Islamic State for more than a decade, carrying out a campaign of arrests and military operations against its cells in HTS’s Idlib stronghold.

Islamic State has tried to stage a comeback in Syria after the fall of Assad. It has sought to portray Sharaa’s rapprochement with the West and pledges to govern for all of Syria’s religious groups as being at odds with Islam.

In June, 25 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a Damascus church, an attack the government blamed on Islamic State. The group did not claim responsibility.

Sharaa’s government has already been coordinating with the US military for months in the fight against Islamic State, according to several Syrian officials, but formally joining is expected to significantly increase cooperation. It is also seen as a key confidence-building measure by Sharaa to convince US lawmakers to lift remaining sanctions against Syria before the end of the year.

Last week, Reuters reported the US military was preparing to establish a presence at a Damascus airbase for the first time. A US administration official asked that the exact location and name of the base not be published, citing operational security concerns.

Sources told Reuters that the purpose of the base is to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel.

Syrian state media denied the Reuters report without elaborating on what was false.

The US has been working for months to reach a security pact between Israel and Syria, two longtime foes. It had hoped to announce a deal at the United Nations General Assembly in September, but talks hit a last-minute snag.

A Syrian source familiar with the talks told Reuters that Washington was exerting pressure on Syria to reach a deal before the end of the year, and possibly before Sharaa’s trip to Washington.