Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa will travel to Washington later this month for a groundbreaking visit expected to focus on lifting remaining U.S. sanctions, post-war reconstruction, and counterterrorism cooperation, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced on Sunday at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
“This visit is certainly historic,” Shaibani told regional and Western officials gathered at the annual Middle East security summit. “Many topics will be discussed, starting with the lifting of sanctions. Today we are fighting the Islamic State, and any effort in this regard requires international support.”
The trip, expected in early November, marks the first official visit by a Syrian head of state to Washington. The Syrian foreign ministry confirmed that President Sharaa will meet senior U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, at the White House — a symbolic milestone in the tentative normalization of ties between the two countries after more than a decade of hostility.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said that preparations for the visit were “in advanced stages” and that the agenda would include “a framework for cooperation against terrorist networks still operating in eastern Syria and the Levant.”
On Saturday, U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Sharaa was traveling to Washington “hopefully” to finalize an agreement to join the international U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS). “The president’s visit could signal a turning point in the war on terror and in Syria’s reintegration into the international community,” Barrack told reporters.
Although it will be Sharaa’s first trip to Washington, it will be his second to the United States this year. In September, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York — the first Syrian president in decades to do so — where he called for an end to “collective punishment through sanctions” and invited Western nations to invest in Syria’s reconstruction.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Islamist commander whose coalition ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, has sought to rebuild international legitimacy by balancing ties with both Western and Arab powers. His May meeting with President Trump in Riyadh marked the first high-level contact between the two nations since 2011 and paved the way for Washington’s gradual easing of restrictions on Syrian financial transactions.
During that meeting, Trump vowed to consider lifting U.S. economic sanctions “once Syria demonstrates a full commitment to democratic transition and counterterrorism.” Since then, limited trade in humanitarian goods has resumed, and some U.S. companies have expressed interest in infrastructure and energy projects in postwar Syria.
The White House has not yet confirmed whether the visit will result in a formal agreement, but officials suggest that a joint communiqué on counterterrorism and reconstruction could emerge.
Despite the diplomatic thaw with Washington, Syria’s relations with Israel remain fraught. The two countries are technically still at war, though they began indirect negotiations after Assad’s fall in December. Israel has since deployed troops along the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two sides and conducted hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria targeting Iranian-backed militias.
“Syria does not want to enter a new war, and it is not currently in a position to threaten any party, including Israel,” Shaibani said in Bahrain. He added that negotiations were focused on “reaching a security agreement that does not undermine the 1974 ceasefire arrangement and does not legitimise any new reality that Israel might impose in the south.”
U.S. officials say Washington supports a stable security framework between Syria and Israel as part of broader regional normalization efforts. Trump has repeatedly expressed hope that Syria might eventually join the Abraham Accords, following the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco in normalizing ties with Israel.
However, Shaibani dismissed that prospect for now. “Regarding Syria and the Abraham Accords, this is an issue that is not being considered and has not been discussed,” he said.
Reconstruction remains a key concern for Damascus, which estimates war damage at over $400 billion. Western aid agencies have so far withheld direct funding, citing concerns about governance and corruption. Syrian officials argue that lifting sanctions is essential to revive the economy and rebuild devastated cities like Aleppo and Homs.
“We need to restore schools, hospitals, and livelihoods,” Shaibani said. “No reconstruction can happen without cooperation between Syria and the international community.”
Analysts say Sharaa’s upcoming visit could mark a new chapter in the geopolitics of the Middle East, signaling Washington’s willingness to engage cautiously with a restructured Syrian leadership while containing extremist threats.
