Syrian President al-Sharaa set for historic White House visit as country joins US-led anti-ISIS coalition

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is scheduled to visit the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack announced on Saturday. The visit marks what will be the first-ever visit by a Syrian head of state and could cap off the months-long campaign to pull the new Syrian regime into the U.S.-led regional alliance system.

Accordingly, al-Sharaa is expected to announce that his regime will join the international coalition against ISIS, and the results of ongoing Israel–Syria security talks may also be disclosed.

The visit is planned to take place “around Nov. 10,” a White House official told Reuters.

Over the weekend, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani confirmed that an announcement regarding his country’s entry into the anti-ISIS coalition is forthcoming.

Speaking to the Saudi Al-Sharq channel, Shaibani said that the defense ministries and intelligence agencies of the U.S. and Syria are conducting talks, while noting that Syria is already in an active state of war against ISIS.

Ini 2019, a coalition of American troops, Western allies, and regional partners expelled ISIS from its Syrian strongholds; however, smaller cells remained.

The Islamist terror group has reportedly been attempting to exploit the power vacuum left in Syria after the toppling of the Assad regime in December 2024 by al-Sharaa’s former terror alliance, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to stage a comeback.

Sharaa’s terror career began in Iraq, where he moved within the same circles that later formed ISIS. He eventually joined al-Qaeda in Syria before breaking away from both organizations and later turning against them as the leader of the ostensibly more moderate Islamist faction, HTS.

Shaibani also confirmed that de-escalation talks between Israel and Syria were continuing under U.S. mediation. A Syrian source told Reuters that the U.S. is pushing for an agreement to be signed in time for an announcement during Sharaa’s historic Washington trip.

In an interview on Syrian television, Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said several regime officials confirmed that the talks with Israel are expected to be limited in scope and focused on establishing a security arrangement with Israel, primarily along the Golan Heights border and modeled after the 1974 Separation Agreement.

“We are interested in implementing the essence of the agreement, because that is the foundation, and the Syrian government cannot agree to anything other than the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the areas the IDF invaded and occupied after December 8,” he said.

Al-Mustafa clarified, “If Israel has questions or concerns, these concerns can be alleviated,” and noted, “The issue of negotiations between Israel and Syria has gained much more media attention than its real significance.”

In September, Sharaa declared an agreement to be only “days” away, ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York City.

However, Israel had continued to demand the establishment of a humanitarian corridor from Israel to the Suwayda province to help Syria’s Druze in the south, which Israel considers to be under its protection.

The proposed humanitarian corridor is now reportedly off the table, and the Syrian government has reportedly pledged not to harm the Druze community while providing Suwayda and the surrounding predominantly Druze areas with essential supplies and employment opportunities.