Syria's entry into the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition will bolster the country's reconstruction and increase pressure on the jihadist group, but Syria's Western outreach will risk alienating hard-liners in the transitional government and could eventually help revitalize the Islamic State if popular expectations are not met. On Nov. 10-12, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa made his first official visit to Washington, where he held meetings at the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump and senior national security officials. During the visit, the two sides announced that Syria would join the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State, marking the first formal security cooperation agreement between Damascus and Washington since the terror group emerged during Syria's civil war in the early 2010s. The announcement included plans for a joint coordination mechanism focused on intelligence sharing and operations against Islamic State cells in the Syrian desert and along the Euphrates...
