Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected in the US capital in early November, Syria’s top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani told a panel at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
“This visit is certainly historic,” he said.
“Many topics will be discussed, starting with the lifting of sanctions,” Shaibani continued, adding: “Today we are fighting (the Islamic State)… any effort in this regard requires international support.”
Discussions will also revolve around reconstruction after more than a decade of war, he stated.
The foreign ministry in Damascus confirmed the trip would be the first ever visit to the White House by a Syrian president.
On Saturday, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Sharaa was heading to Washington “hopefully” to sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).
Though it will be Sharaa’s first visit to Washington, it will be his second to the US after a landmark UN trip in September, where the former militant became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
In May, the interim leader, whose fighters ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, met US President Donald Trump for the first time in Riyadh during a historic visit that led to the US leader vowing to lift economic sanctions on Syria.
Syria and Israel remain technically at war, but they opened direct negotiations after Assad was toppled last December.
Trump has expressed hope that Syria will join other Arab countries that have normalised ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords.
But Shaibani stated that “regarding Syria and the Abraham Accords, this is an issue that is not being considered and has not been discussed”.
“We do not want Syria to enter a new war, and Syria is not currently in a position to threaten any party, including Israel,” added Shaibani.
He stated that the negotiations underway were focused on “reaching a security deal that does not undermine the 1974 agreement (cementing a ceasefire with Israel) and does not legitimise any new reality that Israel might impose in the south”.
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