TEHRAN — On Monday, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Syria's interim government, will become the first Syrian head of state in modern history to visit the White House, a trip that marks a profound shift in US-Syrian relations, reflecting both Washington's willingness to recalibrate Middle East policy and Syria's desire to emerge from years of isolation. 

Sharaa — whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces, formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, toppled Bashar al-Assad last year — is expected to discuss reconstruction and security arrangements with Israel, among other issues. Washington is planning for a military presence near Damascus to oversee humanitarian operations and monitor developments along the Israel-Syria border, Reuters reported this week. However, a US military officer speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity on Thursday denied that US plans are underway to occupy a base south of Damascus to monitor the proposed Israel-Syria agreement.

Iran licks its wounds 

Since the overthrow of Assad, a key Iranian ally, Tehran's response to Sharaa's ascendance has been cautious and unmistakably defensive. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly framed Assad's overthrow as part of an American-Israeli "conspiracy" and signaled Tehran's intent to remain entrenched in Syrian affairs. It has been 11 months since Khamenei told a group of loyalists in Tehran that “the ardent youths” of Syria would soon rise up, dismissing celebrations in Damascus as fleeting and insisting that those youths would make “sacrifices for victory.” No such uprising has taken place.