Syria’s al-Sharaa arrives in US for official visit

Visit comes arsenic Syria announces launching a ‘large-scale operation’ targeting ISIL cells crossed the country.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has arrived successful the United States for an authoritative visit, according to authorities media, during which Washington hopes to enlist Damascus successful its planetary conjugation against ISIL, oregon ISIS.

Al-Sharaa’s accomplishment successful the US superior came precocious connected Saturday arsenic Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced launching a “large-scale information operation” crossed the country, targeting ISIL cells.

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Al-Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad precocious past year, is owed to conscionable US President Donald Trump astatine the White House connected Monday.

It is the archetypal specified sojourn by a Syrian president since the country’s independency successful 1946, according to analysts. Al-Sharaa, who had met Trump for the archetypal clip successful Riyadh successful May, was removed from a US “terrorist” sanctions database connected Friday.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this period that al-Sharaa would “hopefully” motion an statement to articulation the planetary US-led confederation against ISIL.

Washington is besides preparing to found a subject beingness astatine an airbase successful Damascus to assistance alteration a information pact that the US is brokering betwixt Syria and Israel, according to the Reuters and AFP quality agencies.

For his part, al-Sharaa is expected to question funds for Syria, which faces important challenges successful rebuilding aft 13 years of brutal civilian war. The World Bank has estimated that the outgo of reconstruction could instrumentality astatine slightest $216bn, a fig that it described arsenic a “conservative champion estimate”.

Al-Sharaa erstwhile led Syria’s offshoot of al-Qaeda, but his anti-Assad radical broke distant from the web a decennary agone and aboriginal clashed with ISIL. Al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted arsenic a violent radical by Washington successful July.

Al-Sharaa’s travel to Washington, DC, comes aft his landmark sojourn to the United Nations successful September, his archetypal clip connected US soil, wherever helium became the archetypal Syrian president successful decades to code the UN General Assembly successful New York.

On Thursday, the US led a ballot by the UN Security Council to region sanctions against him.

In Damascus connected Saturday, authorities media reported that Syrian information forces had carried retired 61 raids crossed the state targeting ISIL cells.

A spokesperson for the Syrian Interior Ministry said astatine slightest 71 radical were arrested, portion explosives and weapons were seized.

Syria’s SANA quality agency, citing the ministry, said the operations were carried retired successful the Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Damascus countrysides, and that the run was portion of “ongoing federation efforts to combat coercion and support nationalist safety”.