Al-Sharaa, whose rebel forces deposed former ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet Mr Trump at the White House on Monday.
According to analysts, it is the first visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946. Al-Sharaa spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in September.
The interim leader first met Mr Trump in Riyadh during Mr Trump’s Middle East tour in May.
U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that al-Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the international U.S.-led alliance against the Islamic State.
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The State Department’s decision Friday to remove al-Sharaa from the list of global terrorists was widely expected.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that al-Sharaa’s government had met U.S. demands, including on finding missing Americans and eliminating remaining chemical weapons.
“These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress the Syrian leadership has shown following the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than fifty years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said.
The spokesperson added that delisting the US would “promote regional security and stability, as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-controlled political process.”
Al-Sharaa joined Al Qaeda about twenty years ago and was arrested in Iraq in 2005. He spent six years in US and Iraqi prisons before being released in 2011. He subsequently headed an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria and was designated a terrorist by the US in 2013. In 2016, he renounced his allegiance to Al Qaeda.
In November 2024, al-Sharaa led opposition forces in a stunning offensive that toppled the Assad regime.
In an interview with “60 Minutes” in Syria last month, al-Sharaa said that “there are whole generations” of Syrians “who have suffered enormous psychological trauma” under the Assad regime.
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