Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has arrived in New York ahead of his attendance at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the first Syrian leader to do so since 1967, according to Syrian state-run SANA news.
Al-Sharaa heads a high-level delegation that includes several Syrian ministers and senior officials, SANA reported yesterday.
The debate of the UNGA’s 80th session will open tomorrow and continue through Saturday and conclude on Monday.
Al-Sharaa was the leader of the main militant group that spearheaded the lightning offensive that led to the overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, whose regime had been in power for several decades.
Once an al-Qaeda affiliate and a key player in Syria’s bloody civil conflict, al-Sharaa has rebranded himself as a pragmatic leader intent on rebuilding his war-torn nation and repairing Syria’s fractured international relationships.
The US has signaled a willingness to engage with the new Syrian leadership while emphasizing that it will judge them by their actions.
