Trump to receive Syrian president Monday: White House

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - White House on Tuesday confirmed that US President Donald Trump will receive Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Washington on Monday. 

“I can confirm that that meeting will be taking place here at the White House on Monday,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing. 

“This is part of the President's efforts and diplomacy to meet with anyone around the world in the pursuit of peace. And as you know, when the President was in the Middle East, he made the historic decision to lift sanctions on Syria to give them a real chance at peace, and I think the administration, we've seen good progress on that front, under their new leadership. And so he will be here at the White House on Monday, and I'll let the President speak further on it on Monday,” she added.

Trump said on Sunday that Sharaa may visit Washington soon. The Washington Post had reported the date of the meeting but it had not been confirmed by the White House. 

It would be the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said earlier this week that the visit will help open a “new chapter” in Damascus-Washington ties. 

Sharaa, who seized power from Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and was appointed interim president in late January, has been re-establishing ties with the international community ever since.

Trump and Sharaa met in Saudi Arabia in May, a meeting seen as a major diplomatic boost for the interim Syrian government. The Syrian president addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.