In a diplomatic first, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa met U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, marking an unprecedented thaw in relations between Washington and Damascus just days after the U.S. formally removed al-Sharaa from its terrorism blacklist.

“The president of Syria arrived at the White House... The meeting between President Trump and President al-Sharaa has also started,” the White House said in a brief statement.

This is the first visit to the White House by a Syrian head of state since Syria gained independence from France in 1946. The meeting follows the recent lifting of decades-old U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria under the Assad family’s long rule.

Al-Sharaa, who led rebel forces that toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last December, was appointed interim leader in January. Washington’s outreach signals a dramatic policy reversal after years of hostilities between the two nations.

The two leaders first met in May in Saudi Arabia, where Trump described al-Sharaa as “a tough fighter with a strong past.” Their encounter marked the first formal contact between the U.S. and Syria since 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton held talks with Hafez al-Assad, Bashar Assad’s father.