Syrian President’s first visit to the White House: Washington secures a new foothold in the Middle East

On November 10, 2025, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Washington and met with Donald Trump. During the first-ever visit of a Syrian leader to the White House, Washington and Damascus agreed on political cooperation between the Syrian government and the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as on establishing a U.S. military base near the country’s capital.

For its part, the Trump administration suspended the U.S. sanctions imposed under the “Caesar Act” in 2020 against the former government of Bashar al-Assad.

The dialogue between the American and Syrian Presidents is unfolding amid a strategic reassessment of relations between democratic nations and post-Assad Syria.