President Ahmed al-Sharaa Will Be First Syrian Leader To Visit Washington Since 1946 Independence
The Media Line has learned from senior diplomatic sources that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is planning an official visit to Washington, D.C., on November 10 — a move described as historic and unprecedented since Syria gained independence in 1946.
The visit follows several months of significant progress in ties between Damascus and Washington, taking place amid a broader international realignment of alliances across the Middle East.
Diplomatic sources in Damascus told The Media Line that the trip is expected to conclude with an official announcement of Syria’s entry into the international coalition against the Islamic State—a move observers view as a major turning point in Damascus’s stance on regional security.
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President al-Sharaa is expected to meet with US officials to discuss counterterrorism efforts, regional security frameworks, and prospects for political settlements in Syria and the wider region.
The planned visit marks the culmination of an active diplomatic push led by al-Sharaa since assuming office. He previously met with President Donald Trump in Riyadh on May 14 during a regional summit attended by Middle Eastern leaders and later took part in the UN General Assembly in September, where he held a series of discussions with world leaders and senior UN representatives.
The visit comes after decades of strained ties between the two nations. The last high-level contact occurred in the 1990s, when US President Bill Clinton visited Damascus in 1994 as part of the Arab-Israeli peace initiative—an engagement that followed President Richard Nixon’s 1974 trip to Syria after the October War.
Historically, relations between Syria and the United States have experienced sharp fluctuations, alternating between brief phases of cooperation and long stretches of tension. One of the few moments of alignment came during the 1991 Gulf War, when the late President Hafez Assad met with US President George H. W. Bush in Geneva. In the following decades, however, ties deteriorated amid political deadlock and the imposition of US economic sanctions.
In a related development, sources familiar with regional negotiations disclosed that Damascus and Tel Aviv have conducted five rounds of indirect talks in recent months under international mediation. The discussions, they said, are aimed at reaching an agreement on new security arrangements before the end of the year—a step that could represent another major shift in the region’s political landscape.
Al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington is expected to mark a turning point in Syrian-US relations, potentially paving the way for a new era of political and diplomatic engagement between Damascus and Western capitals after more than a decade of isolation and conflicts that have deeply strained the region.
