DAMASCUS — When Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives at the White House on Monday, followed five days later by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the back-to-back visits will mark more than diplomatic courtesy. The sequencing reflects direct coordination between Riyadh and Damascus — a joint move to ease Syria’s isolation and press the U.S. Congress for sanctions relief.
The visits also represent an extraordinary gamble. Less than a year ago, Mr. al-Sharaa led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist militia with roots in Syria’s al Qaeda affiliate, fighting in fatigues from rebel-held Idlib. Today he governs from Damascus in a suit, pitching investment laws to financiers and seeking a role in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.
No Syrian head of state has visited Washington in more than 80 years. None has made the journey from jihadi commander to presidential reception in under 12 months.
The transformation began in Riyadh. President Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia on May 10 and, according to U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack, told Arab leaders: “Give this man a chance.” That presidential blessing, delivered in Crown Prince Mohammed’s presence, set the template for what followed — Saudi financing backing American diplomatic cover, with Riyadh driving the regional reintegration effort and Washington providing political legitimacy.
At Sunday’s Manama Dialogue — an annual global security and geopolitical conference held in the Kingdom of Bahrain — Mr. Barrack declared Syria’s transition complete.
“There is no Plan B for Syria — only integration,” he told Gulf officials and diplomats. He quoted Mr. Trump’s directive: Syria “moved from guerrilla warfare and fatigues to statesmanship with 25 million people — a new country, a new opportunity.”
The Trump administration followed up this week by renewing calls for skeptical House members to back the president on lifting the remaining sanctions on Syria (he already has the votes needed in the Senate) and by pushing the U.N. to drop restrictions in place on Mr. al-Sharaa and members of his government, according to a draft resolution seen Tuesday by Reuters.
Ayman Abdel Nour, a Syrian political analyst and founder of All4Syria, told The Washington Times the timing is deliberate.
“This is all organized — coordinated between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Ambassador Barrack,” he said. “Mr. al-Sharaa’s visit will address one congressional condition for lifting the Caesar Act: joining the alliance against ISIS. The remaining steps will follow when the crown prince arrives a week later.”
Congress set six conditions for repealing the Caesar Act, the one key remaining U.S. sanction on Syria that has blocked the Middle Eastern nation’s banking access and choked reconstruction financing since 2019. The Trump administration hopes the twin visits will give enough cover — counterterrorism cooperation from Damascus, regional guarantees from Riyadh — to kill the legislation and unlock billions in investment.
Mr. Barrack told the Manama audience that Washington has already “lifted the sanctions — except for Caesar, the last to go.”
Sen. Marco Rubio will review the Caesar Act at year-end, making the November visits the administration’s last chance to build congressional support before decision time.
But the energy for this policy comes entirely from Riyadh, not Washington. Crown Prince Mohammed convinced Mr. Trump to lift sanctions in May. Saudi Arabia cleared Syria’s World Bank arrears, pledged months of public-sector salary support and negotiated infrastructure contracts. Now the crown prince orchestrates both the Syrian president’s White House visit and his own arrival five days later — a coordinated push designed to give Congress political cover while demonstrating Saudi commitment with billions in promised investment.
As Riyadh presses Washington to ease sanctions on Damascus, it also advances a major arms request. Saudi Arabia’s bid to purchase up to 48 F-35 fighter jets just cleared a key Pentagon hurdle, Reuters reported in an exclusive Tuesday underscoring how the kingdom’s military modernization drive complements its diplomatic outreach.
The economic pitch
Abdul Hafiz Sharaf, a Syrian American businessman who just returned from Damascus with U.S. investors, said Saudi Arabia’s role goes beyond diplomacy.
“Saudi Arabia is the guarantor of the Syrian new regime at the moment,” he told The Times. “MBS convinced President Trump to lift the sanctions. They are giving political support, helping lift sanctions, reengaging Syria with the world, and huge investments will come very soon.”
At the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh last month, Mr. al-Sharaa appeared with Donald Trump Jr. and Crown Prince Mohammed to pitch Syria’s revised investment laws to global financiers. The Saudis are forming a Saudi-Syrian Business Council and offering investment insurance and protection treaties to firms willing to enter Syria’s market. Riyadh and Doha together have committed to clearing Syria’s international debts and financing reconstruction projects.
Mr. Sharaf said the administration’s Syria policy rests on four pillars: regional stability, rolling back Iranian influence, opening Syria’s market and securing rare earth minerals.
“The Middle East holds $9 trillion of investment and 30% of the world’s resources,” he said.
American companies are moving. Mr. Sharaf said private equity groups went to Syria with him to explore infrastructure, energy and consumer goods.
“This isn’t just Gulf money — American capital is flowing too,” he said.
The economic argument reframes Mr. al-Sharaa’s militant past as an asset rather than a liability. His forces defeated Iranian militias in Syria and cut supply lines to Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Mr. al-Sharaa and his regime actually beat the Iranians and Iranian militias in Syria, got them out and cut the artery that supplied Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Mr. Sharaf said. “This is a common interest between Syria and the United States.”
The structure supporting Mr. al-Sharaa extends beyond Saudi financing to Turkey, which played a decisive role in his rise. “Turkey was responsible for Mr. al-Sharaa being able to take over,” Mr. Barrack said. “Both Turkey and Saudi are now playing well with each other in the sandbox, saying we need this tapestry of Syria to work.”
Mr. Barrack reported progress on integrating Kurdish-led forces that controlled the northeast. “The discussions with the SDF and onboarding are going amazingly well,” he said.
Still, not everyone in Syria shares Mr. Barrack’s optimism. Jaafar Khaddour, a Syrian academic and politician in Damascus, said external powers now control most outstanding issues. “International actors have taken over the Suwayda file, while the United States and France share the SDF file,” he told The Times. “Turkish expansion into Syria also raises serious concerns about Syrian stability, especially given the Israeli occupation.”
If things hold, Mr. Barrack said, normalization could extend beyond Syria. “You may soon see a trade deal between Turkey and Israel.”
Behind the economic talk lies a harder bargain: normalization with Israel. Mr. Barrack revealed that talks are underway. “We’re on our fifth set of discussions with Israel over borders and de-escalation,” he said.
Malik al-Abdeh, managing director of Conflict Mediation Solutions and chief editor of Syria in Transition, said Mr. Barrack’s primary goal is to broker a deal between Israel and Syria.
“The prospect of a new Abraham Accord signing is too significant to pass up,” he told The Times.
Saudi support for Mr. al-Sharaa depends on Damascus making peace with Israel at the right moment.
“For ordinary Syrians, the main concern is economic,” Mr. al-Abdeh said. “If peace with Israel is the price for receiving reconstruction aid and investment, a majority of them will accept that price.”
Damascus has started reframing the occupied Golan Heights as shared economic space.
“The idea that the Golan can become an area of mutual economic benefit for both Israel and Syria is one you will hear a lot in Damascus,” Mr. al-Abdeh said. “Whatever deal is agreed can be packaged as part of a wider reconstruction push financed by the Gulf. It will make the pill easier to swallow.”
Mr. Khaddour is skeptical.
“I don’t believe relations between Syria and Israel will reach full normalization,” he said. “Israel views Syria as a haven for extremist Islamist groups that could threaten its security.”
The Lebanon contrast
Mr. Barrack made the stakes plain by contrasting Syria with Lebanon.
“Lebanon is a failed state,” he said. “There’s no central bank, no electricity, no functioning government. It’s paralyzed by a foreign terrorist organization that says ’Death to America’ and ’Death to Israel.’”
He made clear that American policy would not reward Hezbollah’s grip.
“America won’t keep funding dysfunction,” he said. “Syria is showing the way; Lebanon can draft behind it or not.”
The message is clear: Countries that choose normalization with Israel and partnership with Saudi Arabia get reconstruction financing. Those that resist get economic collapse and isolation.
Mr. al-Sharaa’s strategy increasingly resembles that of Hafez al-Assad, who kept Syria relevant for three decades by playing great powers against one another. Since taking power, Mr. al-Sharaa has traveled to Moscow, engaged Turkey on border security, courted Gulf investment and now prepares to meet Mr. Trump — while his foreign minister tours Beijing, London and Brasília.
“Any aspiring ’strong’ leader of Syria will find himself emulating Hafez Assad’s foreign policy,” Mr. al-Abdeh said. “Sharaa would be wise to keep multiple patrons and partners, even if none truly trust him. So far, Sharaa has hedged his bets. The Russian-Turkish track, and ’Arab cover’ from Saudi Arabia, have meant that he could resist Israel’s more aggressive demands. Even the U.S. will find that it will not always get its way.”
Mr. Abdel Nour agreed: “Syria’s strategy now is to engage with all major powers without aligning exclusively with any of them.”
Yet Saudi Arabia’s role as guarantor gives Riyadh unusual leverage. Unlike other patrons, Saudi Arabia controls both the political support Mr. al-Sharaa needs in Washington and the reconstruction financing he needs at home. That makes Crown Prince Mohammed’s Nov. 15 visit as important as Mr. al-Sharaa’s — perhaps more so.
Mr. Khaddour sees the pattern differently.
“The previous Syrian regime maintained itself through international balance,” he said. “Today, Turkey sustains the current system as part of a regional expansionist vision, viewing Syria as a land of new opportunities.”
What Damascus calls “balanced diplomacy,” Mr. Khaddour said, “looks more like political immaturity — unless national foundations ground it, foundations that grow from within and extend outward, not the other way around.”
Nearly a year after Assad’s fall, Syria’s economic reboot remains more promise than reality. The country rejoined the SWIFT international payments system last month, but power cuts last most of the day, public salaries lag far behind living costs and fuel prices have soared.
Mr. Khaddour said conditions “have become even worse than before. Prices have risen to irrational levels, as has the cost of electricity.” Electricity tariffs have multiplied 60-fold. “Citizens who already lack job opportunities or sufficient income ultimately bear the burden. We’re witnessing mass layoffs that will have catastrophic consequences.”
At Manama, Foreign Minister Asaad Hasan al-Shaibani claimed that “around 90% of what we promised in the first month has been achieved.”
But Mr. Khaddour said domestic priorities remain unresolved.
“I find it shameful to say that the Syrian regime now enjoys good relations with the United States while domestic issues remain unresolved — such as the constitutional declaration and the concentration of power in the hands of one person rather than an empowered parliament. The current regime seems focused on polishing its external image while Syrians’ dreams fade.”
The twin visits to Washington this month will test whether Saudi-backed diplomatic momentum can turn into reconstruction financing that reaches Syrian households. Congress remains skeptical, Gulf investors cautious and Syrian patience limited.
“Sanctions, including the Caesar Act, have no justification today and block our recovery,” Mr. al-Shaibani said in Manama. “Lift the hindrances and Syrians will rebuild.”
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