Syrian transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa departed for the United States on Sunday, September 21, to attend the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to the presidential media office.

Al-Sharaa becomes the first Syrian president to participate in the General Assembly in 60 years, since former president Nureddin al-Atassi attended in 1967, and the first Syrian president ever to take part in the UN’s High-Level Week, held between September 22 and 30.

The General Assembly discusses international issues, makes recommendations, approves the UN budget, elects non-permanent Security Council members, and appoints the Secretary-General on the Council’s recommendation. Its mandate includes promoting cooperation in peace and security, human rights, and economic and social development, in addition to issuing recommendations for conflict resolution.

Al-Sharaa–Trump meeting

On May 14, al-Sharaa met with US President Donald Trump, marking the first presidential-level meeting in 25 years, since Hafez al-Assad met President Bill Clinton.

Trump described the meeting as “great” and announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. Speaking aboard a plane en route to Qatar, he called al-Sharaa “a real leader who led the revolution and is amazing,” adding that the Syrian president is “a young, charismatic fighter with a very strong past and a real chance to preserve Syria’s unity.”

History of Syrian–US meetings

The last Syrian–US meetings prior to al-Sharaa’s presidency brought together Hafez al-Assad and Clinton at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva on March 26, 2000, in the final months of both men’s terms. Assad died shortly afterward, on June 10, 2000.

Earlier, in the same hotel on January 16, 1994, Clinton secured Assad’s commitment to recognize Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, as well as his readiness to withdraw from Lebanon as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement.

A previous summit had brought Assad and President George H.W. Bush together on November 23, 1990, weeks before the start of the US-led coalition’s Second Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which Syria joined.

On May 9, 1977, Assad met President Jimmy Carter for talks on launching peace negotiations with Israel, which yielded no results.

First US presidential visit to Syria

On June 15, 1974, US President Richard Nixon visited Hafez al-Assad in Damascus, the first visit by a sitting American president to Syria.

The visit came after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the signing of the Israel–Syria Disengagement Agreement in May 1974, which restored high-level diplomatic relations between Washington and Damascus.