Thomas Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, said that Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, is scheduled to visit Washington on November 10, expecting him to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Barrack explained to Axios on Saturday, October 1, that this will be the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, a further major step in rebuilding US–Syrian relations.

During the visit, President al-Sharaa is expected to sign Syria’s accession agreement to the US-led International Coalition against the Islamic State group.

The Coalition has been carrying out strikes against targets it says belong to the Islamic State or factions designated as terrorists, in cooperation with Syrian security services, without an official Syrian announcement so far.

Barrack also anticipated a fifth round of direct negotiations between Israel and Syria to be held with US mediation after al-Sharaa’s visits to Washington.

According to the envoy, the United States aims to reach a border security agreement between the two countries by the end of 2025.

Middle East Institute: Syria may formally join the U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State

US State Department backs lifting sanctions

A US State Department spokesperson stated that President Donald Trump’s administration supports lifting Syria sanctions under the Caesar Act through the National Defense Authorization Act, which US lawmakers are currently debating.

The United States is in regular contact with its partners in the region. It welcomes any investment or engagement in Syria that helps create opportunities for all Syrians to build a peaceful and prosperous state, Reuters reported on October 31.

Calls to repeal the Caesar Act

A group of Syrian American organizations has urged the US Congress to approve a full, permanent, and unconditional repeal of the Caesar Act, which the Senate recently passed under the sponsorship of Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Senator Rand Paul.

The organizations urged the conference committee report for the final FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act to include a full, permanent, and unconditional repeal of the Caesar Act and called on the House of Representatives to pass it in the final version of the legislation.

In a memorandum published by Syrian American Council member Mohammed Ghanem on October 31, the organization said the Caesar Act was originally designed to pressure a “brutal regime” that no longer exists, arguing that continuing sanctions harm the Syrian people and undermine US strategic, political, and commercial interests.

The memo added that repealing the law, as included in the Defense budget bill, is a long-overdue correction and urged the House to keep the provision in the final legislation.

It said senior US officials share this view, noting that US Special Envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack recently called on Congress to repeal the law to reflect realities on the ground and turn the page on the past.

Barrack also noted that 26 senior Christian clerics in Syria appealed to Congress to end the sanctions, warning that their continuation has become a key driver of the shrinking Christian presence in the country.

Al-Sharaa also called for the repeal

During his visit to New York, Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa repeatedly called for lifting sanctions on Syria, both in media appearances and in his speech to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on September 22.

In his September 24 address, al-Sharaa said Syria had restored its international relations and established regional and global partnerships through “intensive” diplomacy, culminating in the gradual lifting of most sanctions on Syria.

He called for a full lifting of sanctions so they would not be “a tool to shackle the Syrian people and curtail their freedom again.”

What about Israel

Al-Sharaa said the Golan is Syrian land and that Syria is working to restore it through negotiations and peace agreements or any arrangement that guarantees Syria’s right to this territory, which the international community still recognizes as Syrian.

On October 15, CBS aired the full “60 Minutes” interview it conducted with the Syrian president on September 21, in which al-Sharaa addressed Syrian–Israeli relations, the course of ongoing negotiations, and Damascus’ position on repeated strikes on its territory.

Al-Sharaa added that Israel must return to any position it advanced to after December 8, 2024, calling that the “normal situation,” and said Syria “has not undertaken any provocations toward Israel since the current government took office in Damascus,” declaring clearly that Syria “will not be a platform to threaten any neighboring state, including Israel.”

Despite this, he said Israel has carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syrian territory since the fall of the previous regime, targeting “military and security sites and civilians,” in addition to “more than 400 incursions and arrests inside Syria,” describing these actions as having “caused major disruption in the country.”

He pointed out that Israel bombed the Presidential Palace twice, arguing that “bombing the palace is not a political message, it is a declaration of war,” and asked: “What if the White House backyard were bombed? Wouldn’t America go to war for 20 years?”

Al-Sharaa believes Israel is trying to drag Syria into a state of conflict through “repeated provocations relying on military force,” calling this policy “mistaken and a threat to regional stability,” and warning that its continuation could prompt US allies to “seek alternative options because of the risks created by Israeli actions in the region.”

What is the Caesar Act

The Caesar Act is a bill passed by the US House of Representatives on November 15, 2016, and signed by US President Donald Trump on December 21, 2019, during his first term.

The law mandates sanctions against anyone who provides support to the former Syrian regime and obliges the US president to impose sanctions on allied states of the ousted Assad government.

It covers those who provide military, financial, and technical support to the former regime, including companies, individuals, and states, and targets those who fund Syria’s reconstruction.

The law was named after Syrian military defector Farid al-Madhhan, who leaked 55,000 photos of 11,000 detainees in 2014 who were killed under torture. The FBI confirmed their authenticity; they stirred global public opinion at the time and were displayed in the US Senate.

Damascus in the “International Coalition” camp to pursue the Islamic State