Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa arrived in Washington for an official visit, just two days after the US formally rejected his status as a specially designated global terrorist.
The former Islamist militant will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, eleven months after his rebel alliance with Bashar Al-Assad.
Hours before his arrival in the US capital, it was announced that the Syrian National Security Services had detained several suspected members of the so-called Islamic State Group.
A joint effort to resolve the rest of the group in Syria is expected to be high on the agenda of Sharaa’s talks with Trump.
Syrian authorities said 71 suspected members of the group were arrested, who also had weapons and explosives.
Since taking power, Sharaa has looked to restore Syria’s presence on the world stage after decades of isolation under the Assad regime.
He traveled to the US in September to address the UN General Assembly, where he said he had “reserved the rightful place of the nations of the world” and called on the international community to lift sanctions.
Last week the UN Security Council backed a U.S. resolution to lift the measures, joining Washington as it continues a month-long crackdown on Syria and its new leaders.
On Friday, Sharaa and his interior minister, Anas Hasan Khattab, were removed from a US-backed registry “in recognition of the progress shown by the Syrian leadership”.
Sharaa is listed under the name Muhammad Al-Jawlani, the alias he uses as the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group was associated with Al-Qaeda until 2016, when it was separated by sharaa.
Before the HSS predecessors, Sharaa fought for Al-Qaeda in Iraq and for a time was imprisoned by US forces. He is also covered by an American ball of $ 10 million.
The US lifted its sanctions on HTS earlier this year.
Trump previously met Sharaa in May during a visit to Riyadh, where he described her as a “tough guy, strong past”.
Despite his background, Sharaa alternated retreating from governments opposed to the Assad regime by promising to bring a moderate government and factions to Syria.
Last year, he promised to root out elements of his security forces accused of executing members of Syria’s lover.
Deadly violence has also broken out in recent months between the Sunni Bedouin tribe’s Druze fighters to restore government in a country that has been in limbo for more than a decade.