Sharaa Goes to Washington

On November 10, President Trump will host President Ahmed al-Sharaa for a meeting that will reportedly include Syria’s induction into the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State. The summit comes nearly six months after they first met in Saudi Arabia, where Trump outlined five core principles for ending decades of tensions between the two countries. What has Damascus done so far to meet those principles, which focused on central issues such as preventing an IS resurgence, normalizing relations with Israel, and resolving internal disputes with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces? Going forward, what impact might the next meeting have on Washington's remaining sanctions, the U.S. military presence in Syria, and Russia's attempts to retain its influence there?

To discuss these questions, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with a distinguished panel of experts and veteran diplomats, moderated by Andrew J. Tabler, the White House’s former director for Syria:

Amb. James Jeffrey, the Institute’s Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow and former U.S. special representative for Syria, special envoy to the anti-IS coalition, and ambassador to Iraq and Turkey;

Anna Borshchevskaya, the Grinspoon Senior Fellow in the Institute’s Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East and author of Putin’s War in Syria;

Amb. Michael Herzog, the Institute’s Tisch Distinguished Fellow, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, and former chief of staff to Israel's minister of defense;

Michael Jacobson, a senior fellow in the Institute’s Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence and former director of strategy, plans, and initiatives in the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau.

The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.