Syria signs up to US-led coalition against ISIL

Syrian President al-Sharaa, recently dropped from global ‘terror’ list, pledges cooperation in combating armed group.

Syria has signed up to join the international coalition led by the United States to combat the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

The announcement, made by Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa and US officials, came shortly after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Washington and was welcomed at the White House by US President Donald Trump on Monday.

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Al-Mustafa said a “political cooperation declaration” signed by Damascus with the international coalition confirms Syria’s role in “combating terrorism and supporting regional stability”.

“The agreement is political and until now contains no military components,” he wrote in a post on X.

The agreement makes Syria the 90th country to join the coalition, which aims to prevent foreign fighters from joining ISIL’s ranks and eliminating the remaining elements of the group from across the Middle East.

The announcement was expected. A spokesperson for Syria’s Ministry of Interior had announced on Saturday, as al-Sharaa was set to arrive in the US for his meeting with Trump, that nationwide preemptive operations were carried out targeting ISIL cells.

According to state-run Al-Ikhbariah TV, Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized.

On Monday, the Reuters news agency quoted unnamed officials as saying that Syria had foiled two ISIL plots to assassinate al-Sharaa.

The senior Syrian security official and senior Middle Eastern official said the assassination plots were foiled over the past few months.

They asserted that the schemes underline the direct threat that al-Sharaa faces as he tries to consolidate power in a fragmented country that has been devastated by 14 years of civil war.

The Syrian leader was praised by Trump during their meeting at the White House as he secured a six-month suspension of US sanctions against his country.

The 43-year-old president toppled the former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December in a swift armed offensive.

He formerly led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an armed group that was an affiliate of al-Qaeda. He was taken off Washington’s “terror” list last week, cancelling a $10m reward for his capture.