Syria’s Sharaa leaves Washington with warm assurances but no security agreements
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa departed Washington without clinching major security agreements or long-term economic relief.
WASHINGTON — Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa departed Washington on Monday night without securing long-term relief from punishing US economic sanctions on his country and with few, if any, outward signs of progress on outstanding security proposals between the two sides.
What happened: The highly anticipated visit — which appeared choreographed by the White House to avoid the appearance of a trilateral involving Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan — resulted in no announcements of any breakthroughs on a proposed US-mediated security agreement between Damascus and Israel, nor with Syria's Kurdish-led forces.
Instead, the Trump administration appears to be leveraging a delay in lifting remaining US sanctions on Syria in order to push Syrian officials for progress on those proposals.
The United States and Syria “agreed to proceed with … integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the ranks of the Syrian Arab Army,” according to a readout published by Sharaa’s office after the meetings.
